It seems like all the players in the marketplace lending space felt the cloud of uncertainty that surrounded the industry last year.
Except for PeerStreet.
The platform brings real estate to the marketplace lending space, opening up a previously inaccessible asset class to investors. Launched in November 2015, PeerStreet has been “rapidly” increasing its investor base, and is now looking to expand to adjacent markets, CTO Alex Perelman told Bank Innovation.
“We actually saw a larger inflow of investors last year, since we have a comfortable return on an asset, because it’s backed by real estate,” Perelman said. “We have thousands of users, growth has been 500% year over year, and we have done over $250 million in [investment] volume.” Perelman did not mention the exact number of users, but said that, historically, customers grow their account size by 300% in the first three to six months on PeerStreet’s platform.
The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based startup is now looking to expand its product offerings, first with buy-to-rent loans – a purchase made specifically for renting purposes.
“We are looking into longer-term assets, but there is still a lot of opportunity where we are in today,” he said. “So the focus is still to continuously improve investor experience.”
PeerStreet works with accredited investors, who need to earn at least $200,000 each year, or have a net worth of at least $1 million.
The company closed a $15 million Series A round in November last year, led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total funding to $21.1 million to date.
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