Summary
To date DiversyFund has raised 93% of the $6M raise
Investing in commercial real estate is one of the best ways to diversify out of the stock market with a more stable and higher yield investment than most other asset classes.
It’s a favorite investment amongst the 1% of the wealthiest in the US. While REITs (Real Estate Investment Trust) have been developed over the years, which can be invested in on the stock market, few can compare on cost and upside to being a direct investor in large scale commercial real estate projects.
That is why DiversyFund is such an intriguing company, which has developed an investment fund solution that lets you invest as little as $500 into diversified portfolios of directly owned commercial real estate projects.
They are now raising their Series A directly on their website to get this exciting investment fund into the hands of as many individual investors as possible.
Exciting days are ahead for this organization, so we sat down with the CEO and Founder, Craig Cecilio to learn more about what he and his team are up to.
Chris Lustrino
Can you tell us how DiversyFund came to be?
Craig Cecilio
The story of DiversyFund started a long time ago, it goes back to my childhood and family. I was raised by my hardworking parents and always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Before founding DiversyFund in 2016, I worked for nearly 20 years raising and managing over $500 Million in assets.
This made me realize that the traditional ways of building wealth were archaic and excluded the average American. It represented everything I was against– The American Dream is all about being able to move up the wealth ladder. When I saw an opportunity to take my knowledge and experience and apply it to the regulatory changes instituted by the Jobs Act, DiversyFund was created. What better way to give every American an opportunity to build wealth?
Chris Lustrino
What differentiates DiversyFund from any other alternative investing platform out there?
Craig Cecilio
DiversyFund is vertically integrated, meaning we own and manage the assets ourselves and our interests are directly aligned with our investors.
This also means we are able to cut out middlemen and we have a no management fee based fund, we have low minimums to open our funds up to everyone, and are founded by someone who is an experienced real estate operator and an experienced businessman.
Wall Street has Morningstar, S&P, and Bloomberg
The equity crowdfunding market has KingsCrowd.
Chris Lustrino
What do you like about the commercial real estate asset class?
Craig Cecilio
For centuries, the 1% has used real estate as a wealth creation tool. They focus on investing in high quality, top tier commercial assets. Commercial real estate is a conservative asset class compared to other real estate assets. Over time, it has demonstrated to be less volatile than some other asset classes.
Chris Lustrino
You recently lowered the minimum investment to $500. Why did you do this and are you seeing some traction with this?
Craig Cecilio
Our mission is to democratize investing. We lowered the minimum investment amount to give people of all socioeconomic backgrounds an opportunity and a choice to invest in an alternative class like commercial real estate. No matter your age, net worth, or background you can get started and learn how to build wealth like the 1%.
Chris Lustrino
You are currently raising capital online. How much capital are you raising and what are the plans to deploy this capital to grow the business?
Craig Cecilio
We have raised 5 of our 6 million, as we have 1 million left. The funds will be used to improve our platform, build awareness and our investor community.
Wall Street has Morningstar, S&P, and Bloomberg
The equity crowdfunding market has KingsCrowd.
Chris Lustrino
Can you give us some feedback you have received from your own customer base about what they like about DiversyFund?
Craig Cecilio
First of all our investors love our mission. On the actual experience they consistently have positive feedback on the ease of use, the ability to make a direct investment into a traditional alternative investment, low minimums, and the ability to have a passive direct ownership in cash flowing real estate investment.
Chris Lustrino
What are the regulatory challenges of building a business like DiversyFund?
Craig Cecilio
Our main FUND is a Reg A+ offering, which you have to be qualified by the SEC. This process takes months, in some cases years and is quite an arduous and expensive process.
Chris Lustrino
Are there any changes you would like to see from a regulatory perspective to make this a more accessible market?
Craig Cecilio
Yes and no, if they make it too easy then everyone would start a company like this, there needs to be some type of qualification. We would like the fund limit of $50 million to increase to at least $500 million to make it more cost effective and in return the investors would make higher returns.
Wall Street has Morningstar, S&P, and Bloomberg
The equity crowdfunding market has KingsCrowd.
Chris Lustrino
What does the makeup of the team look like today?
Craig Cecilio
Our company has close to 25 internal employees, 10 external, and we probably employ over 500 contractor & subcontractors for our various projects. The internal staff is 70% tech and marketing, and 30% finance, real estate, admin.
Chris Lustrino
For those on the fence about investing, what do you want them to know about you and your business?
Craig Cecilio
I learned the syndication business back in the late 90s, which is how to raise money from groups of people for various projects. I have endured a couple of market turns and built a couple of companies.
I know how to deal with good times and times of adversity. When investing, look at the big picture and ask yourself do you have the right team in place and are you diversified to weather any downturns. That is why we created DiversyFund (diversification of assets) to mitigate any potential losses.
DiversyFund is an opportunity to invest in the dynamic growth of new world real estate investment platforms that are not only democratizing access to the real estate asset class, but frankly are creating a generally more efficient market for developers and investors.
With $5M raised to date, real market traction, a focused founding team and a vertically integrated business model that caters to benefitting investors, DiversyFund is one worth checking out.
Stay tuned for further deal coverage in the coming weeks.
About: Chris Lustrino
A Boston College Eagle for life, on a mission to democratize startup investing for all people at KingsCrowd, with a passion for Fintech, investing, social impact, doing well and doing good, and an avid runner, cyclist and writer.