This $10M blockchain VC deal could have a big impact on real estate

Blockchain technology company Harbor raised $10 million in venture funding, in a deal that could have major implications for the real estate industry.

Fifth Wall Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in real estate startups, participated in the Series A round along with Vy Capital and Valor Equity Partners.

Founded last year by Zenefits veterans Arisa Amano and Bob Remeika, San Francisco-based Harbor sells compliance technology for crypto-securities offerings. As The Real Deal reported last year, a growing number of companies are offering crypto-currencies backed by real estate. For these startups, figuring out if their offerings comply with U.S. regulations is a challenge.  This has mostly prevented institutional investors from piling into real estate-backed coins, Fifth Wall’s co-founder Brad Greiwe argued.

“Fifth Wall believes Harbor’s protocol is precisely the standard the industry needs to trigger a tsunami of real estate assets that will tokenize, ICO, and trade on the blockchain,” Greiwe wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “This represents the most profound, disruptive change to real estate capital markets ever and the potential to spur the mass adoption of institutional blockchain solutions within the broader real estate industry.”

TRD’s February magazine cover story broke down how blockchain and other technologies are changing the real estate industry. — Konrad Putzier