CrowdStreet hits $1B milestone, crowdfunding firm claims

Last year the company raised over $500M for 111 project offerings on its site

CrowdStreet CEO Tore Steen (Credit: iStock)
CrowdStreet CEO Tore Steen (Credit: iStock)

CrowdStreet said it has raised over $1 billion for commercial real estate deals through its online crowdfunding platform.

The milestone comes as the crowdfunding industry continues to mature, with some startups falling away and others facing troubles with underperforming assets.

Crowdstreet offers several tools to allow people to invest in commercial real estate, an industry that historically requires deep pockets to get into. CrowdStreet’s online marketplace launched in 2014, and the Oregon-based firms says it has over 80,000 investors and 193 operators and developers that have used it.

In 2019, the company raised over $500 million for 111 offerings, it said. One of the projects funded through the platform was Phoenix Development Partners’ 349-room dual-branded Hilton in downtown Chicago. For that deal, 200 investors poured in more than $10 million for the building’s redevelopment, according to CrowdStreet.

CrowdStreet last year also locked down $12 million in Series C financing, upping its total fundraising to $25 million.

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A bevy of crowdfunding companies came on the scene around 2013, when a shift in U.S. securities law made it possible to expand crowdfunding for certain types of investments. For commercial real estate, the change was seen at the time as a way to make the investment class more accessible to a bigger pool of investors.

The wave of startups attracted venture capital financing that has since tapered. Some companies, like Fundrise, in the years since have shifted their models away from crowdfunding. Others, like the popular platform RealtyShares, stopped operating.

And another platform, Prodigy Network, which raised money for its own developments, faces investor lawsuits over mismanagement of funds.

Write to Mary Diduch at md@therealdeal.com