Crowdfunding company Fundrise is launching two new real estate investment trusts, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.
The two trusts, Fundrise West Coast Opportunistic REIT and Fundrise East Coast Opportunistic REIT, seek to raise up to $50 million each to invest in real estate development projects and multifamily properties on both coasts. Fundrise already runs two REITs: Fundrise Real Estate Investment Trust, which invests in real estate debt, and Fundrise Equity REIT.
Fundrise’s CEO Ben Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company submitted offering circulars for the two new REITs with the SEC on Wednesday.
The Washington, D.C.-based company, founded by brothers Ben and Dan Miller in 2012, is one of real estate crowdfunding’s pioneers. The firm has raised more than $40 million in venture funding and is backed by real estate bigwigs like Silverstein Properties’ Marty Burger and Ackman-Ziff’s [TRDataCustom] Simon Ziff.
Last year, Fundrise became the first real estate crowdfunding platform to launch a non-listed REIT under Regulation A of the JOBS Act. In August, California-based real estate crowdfunding site RealtyMogul followed suit with its own REIT. Crowdfunding regulations allow these platforms to sell shares in their non-listed REITs via the internet without having to go through a registered broker-dealer.
Like most other crowdfunding platforms, Fundrise had initially focused on letting people invest in individual real estate deals through project-specific notes. It has since put that practice on hold to focus on its REITs.The company was in the news earlier this year when it fired an executive over extortion allegations.