Our founder and CEO Noam Amram recently sat down with Maor Shalom Swisa of The Calcalist to discuss RealtyBundles, its model and why it could be a solution for small and medium-sized investors looking to build a global portfolio.
Maor:
In recent years, the field of real estate investment has undergone a revolution all over the world with the transition to online investing in real estate. Pro-tech startups that combine technology in the conservative world of real estate are also growing thanks to the transition to the digital world. One of the startups that will start operating in Israel in the coming months is RealtyBundles, which is running a mass investment campaign. It offers the public the chance to become a partner and shareholder in a startup. Hello, Noam Amram, CEO and Founder of RealtyBundles, hello.
Noam:
Hello, Maor.
Maor:
So, the Israelis have turned real estate investments into a kind of national sport, how does your company help the Israeli investor deal with complex real estate investments abroad?
Noam:
Okay, before I jump into the company's solution, I think it's important to talk about the problem. Today, the threshold for entering the real estate investment market is very high. Oftentimes, the Israeli investor finds himself in a luxurious office in front of a young and shrewd salesman selling him the best investment of his life: 150,000 euros minimum for an investment in a project abroad. The problem is that each country has its laws, each project can get complicated in different ways, and the investor does not have the means to understand this complexity. Typically, these investors aged 65 and over, do not have the means to assess the risks they are taking, so they are exposed to a lot of risks. What we did in RealtyBundles…the world is moving forward, technologically advanced…we see ourselves as a kind of Robin Hood for investors. We want to help investors invest safely starting with small amounts, so we have concentrated private real estate funds managed by professional agencies in one platform. Each investor can choose where he wants to invest, gets relevant information and can start investing with small amounts from the comfort of home.
Maor:
So, you mentioned the real estate agencies that the platform is accessible to. Who are they? And why should they go along with the rules you set?
Noam:
So, first of all, these are private real estate agencies and funds. Today, what they all have in common is that they have no supply for small investors. Think, for example, that millions of potential investors are never exposed to their investments, it is a market segment that…
Maor:
What amounts do these agencies invest?
Noam:
Usually between 100 and 150,000 euros. With us, it is possible to invest with much smaller amounts and build an investment portfolio with a wide spread. Those same agencies are missing out on this market segment. We expose them to investors from all over the world and allow them to focus on the real estate itself and what they are good at rather than the actual sale.
Maor:
What are your plans for expansion in Israel?
Noam:
First of all, my dream is to make real estate accessible from small amounts to everyone in Israel. We want to change the same framework I mentioned at the beginning that demands high investment amounts. I want to make dozens, even hundreds of projects and real estate funds accessible from all over the world to allow the Israeli investor to build an investment portfolio with a very wide spread of risk. This is my dream. We have already started here in Israel. We have dozens of agencies that want to work with us…
Maor:
Have you already joined Israeli organisations?
Noam:
Yes, yes, there are already many agencies that want to work with us in Israel and around the world, we have also joined insurance companies. We are starting a pilot with an insurance agency now and the potential is just insane. Hundreds of millions of shekels of investment from pension funds, which can be invested with us in global real estate. There are a lot of avenues for potential. We have also joined forces with Zvi Gabay, an attorney who was a senior figure at the Securities Authority. He does all the regulation for us in Israel to allow us to launch the service flawlessly.
Maor:
Why should the Israeli investor invest in you as a startup, beyond investing in the assets offered on the platform, and how much money have you already raised?
Noam:
Look, first of all, for many good reasons, over a million euros have already been raised for the company. The platform, the business, we are solving a problem for two sectors in the real estate world that do not fully exploit themselves. On the one hand, the small private investor, and on the other hand, the small real estate agency. Our service aims to solve significant problems for both parties. If you look at platforms like ours, global platforms like Airbnb, Urban Compass, those that provide a solution and are issued at tens of billions of dollars, this is the potential for those who invest in us. We also won an award and a grant for business innovation from the EU. We are at the beginning of the road and this is a great opportunity to join us. We launched a campaign through Fundit and anyone can find us there and invest in us for any amount.
Maor:
Thank you very much, Noam Amram, CEO of the RealtyBundles platform, another way to invest in real estate, thank you very much!
Noam:
Thank you, Maor!
Maor:
Thank you for watching, goodbye.
This interview was conducted during RealtyBundles’ Fundit fundraising campaigns. The campaigns raised significantly more funds than our initial target1,2. We appreciate every of 810 investor that believed in us. Thanks to you, we are preparing to launch in Israel and step by step moving closer to our vision of helping individual investors succeed in building global real estate investment portfolios with minimal risk starting with small investments amounts and thus lowering the threshold for people to become real estate investors.
**The above is general information only, should not be construed as advice and / or recommendation for investment, and any investment has a risk of financial loss. In accordance with the Israeli Securities regulations, we intend to share the investment details with up to 35 people only.
1. https://invest.fundit.co.il/project/1251
2. https://invest.fundit.co.il/project/1287
