Why did you start the company?
iFunding (http://www.ifunding.co) is the joint creation of William Skelley and Sohin Shah. William attended the prestigious OPM program at Harvard Business School (HBS) where he met HBS professor Clayton Christensen, the World's foremost thinker on disruptive innovation. William joined his hedge fund that invested in companies that fit the theory of disruptive innovation, both public and private. One of the investments the fund made was in a company called CircleUp, the largest equity crowdfunding platform in USA which has raised over $23MM in venture capital money to date.
While working for Dr. Christensen's hedge fund, William realized that real estate industry was ripe for technological innovation, enabling individual investors and smaller institutions to participate in a wide range of investment deals, through an online marketplace offering comparable financial terms to those offered to the most wealthy in the past. We like to say that "iFunding is democratizing the real estate investment process."
Where can I quickly watch more about iFunding?
iFunding was selected as the only real estate crowdfunding website to present on CNBC's Power Pitch. We are proud to gain support from real estate super broker, Dolly Lenz, and CEO of Pantegrion Capital, Alicia Syrett, during this "Shark-Tank-esque" investment panel!
View the CNBC video here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102254127
What sets the company apart?
Compared to other companies and approach that support real estate investments, the crowdfunding approach efficiently supports thousands of investors considering investment in particular projects, and provides extensive documentation and a pre-vetting process to support investors' decision-making. Compared to other real estate crowdfunding companies, iFunding is thought of by our customers as excelling at:
What are your keys to success?
iFunding website goes live with its first deal
October, 2013First time iFunding funds a deal in under a day
October, 2013iFunding diversifies into offering 'new construction' real estate investments
February, 2014iFunding diversifies into offering multi-family real estate investments
March, 2014First time iFunding funds a deal in under one hour
March, 2014Former NY Governor David Paterson joins iFunding
April, 2014iFunding begins distributing returns from completed projects to investors
August, 2014iFunding lists its first debt investment offering
September, 2014iFunding diversifies into offering investments in real estate (multi-project) funds
October, 2014Over $1M in reservations through Crowdfunder in 10 days
December, 2014Nearly $30 million in real estate investments made on our platform last year
December, 2014Founders from Harvard Business School and NYU with $2 billion of real estate underwritten
December, 2014iFunding has been featured on CNBC’s Power Pitch TV show, as well as the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Forbes
December, 2014