Blockchain-based real estate investment platform raises $7.5M in strategic funding round; marks first direct web3 investment for leading proptech VC
NEW YORK, May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parcl, the blockchain-based real estate platform that allows users to invest in a digital square foot of real estate in the most lucrative neighborhoods around the world, today announced a $7.5M strategic funding round to help bolster real estate and software partnerships. New investors include Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm focused on technologies for the global real estate industry, JAWS, family office of Barry Sternlicht, IA Capital & Eberg Capital, Big Brain Holdings, and new angel Santiago Santos. Existing investor partners made up much of the round, including Archetype, Dragonfly Capital, Shima Capital, Solana Ventures, Not Boring Capital, and FJ Labs.
Parcl is a digital real estate protocol built on Solana, a blockchain specifically designed to host decentralized and scalable applications. The Parcl Protocol allows users to invest in and trade specific geographical real estate markets, enabling directional investment and hedging strategies in this traditionally opaque and walled-off asset class. An individual Parcl is a digital representation of the price per square foot/meter in each real-world geographic area, collateralized by crypto assets.
The funding will help accelerate growth as the company sets its sights on further expansion, including key real estate, data, and software partnerships. IA Capital & Eberg Capital will be critical in helping shape Parcl's larger data vision.
"As we work towards our goal of providing everyone in the world with the opportunity to invest in real estate, key partnerships across the industry will be critical to our success and that of our users," said Trevor Bacon, Parcl Co-Founder, and CEO. "We're thrilled to have the support of leading proptech and data-centric VC firms as we utilize blockchain technology and web3 to reimagine real estate investing."
"Our investment illustrates our confidence that Parcl's platform makes real estate investing more accessible to all," said Dan Wenhold, Partner at Fifth Wall. "We're thrilled to partner with the Parcl team as they democratize real estate investing."
The latest strategic financing round follows Parcl's $4.1M Series Seed round closed in late 2021, which was led by Archetype, with additional funding from Dragonfly Capital, ParaFi, Shima Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Slow Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Tribe Capital, and FJ Labs. The initial round of capital was primarily put towards building out Parcl's team, beta product, and marketing efforts. Parcl has since hired over ten new team members, including Jesus Leal Trujillo, Principal Data Scientist, Tom Bonnani, Lead Front End Engineer, and Donna Scarola, Chief People, Purpose & Culture Officer.
"DeFi is fundamentally about offering unstoppable access to financial services and creating markets for everything. Real estate has historically been far too opaque and inaccessible for people worldwide. I am extremely excited for Parcl to open up this asset class to millions more people in a crypto-native way," said Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly Capital.
In late March, Parcl launched a testnet, which generated significant interest over the ten days it was live (3/30-4/9), including over 300,000 on-chain transactions. Parcl plans to launch a second testnet on May 23rd, ahead of its mainnet launch in late 2Q.
"We're ecstatic to further Archetype's partnership with Parcl through this strategic financing. The Parcl team has continued to execute across multiple fronts, and their momentum is accelerating. Notably, they have shown their ability to foster a community obsessed with digital real estate through the HOA while shipping a beautifully designed testnet experience in April. Parcl is creating an entirely new category, and we couldn't be more excited to be a small part of that," said Ash Egan, Archetype Founder.
About Parcl
Parcl is a synthetic asset protocol, built on and backed by Solana, that is on a mission to deliver real estate to everyone. The Parcl protocol allows users to invest in a digital square foot of real estate in neighborhoods worldwide. It does so by allowing for the creation of synthetic "Parcls". Parcls are tied to a proprietary valuation index (Parcl Price Feed or PPF), representing the median price per square foot/meter within each real-world neighborhood boundary. The PPF continuously tracks the underlying price movements of the real estate assets represented by each Parcl geo-boundary, and real-time price updates flow into the smart contracts via an oracle.
With Parcl's blockchain-based trading system, users can benefit from broad (or highly granular) exposure to the world's most desirable real estate markets. Parcl requires no minimum investment, is highly liquid, and carries low transaction fees, enabling investors to trade their favorite neighborhoods just like they trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other crypto assets.
For more information, visit https://parcl.co
SOURCE Parcl
