While Nada’s platform helps users buy and sell their home, the company is moving into a new one of its own this week.
Though not moving far—from Uptown to the Oak Lawn neighborhood—the Dallas-based startup that provides an alternative to the commission structure of selling a home is more than doubling its footprint, as it looks to nearly quadruple its headcount over the next year.
“Our goal has always been how do we unlock a lot of this realistic wealth for both homeowners and investors, and help them build it and grow it,” said Poorvi Mody, VP of marketing at Nada.
The startup’s new digs, designed to provide more opportunities for collaboration, will have a more than 4,200 square feet of space, up from the approximately 1,600 square feet it previously occupied. The move will help the company grow its workforce from 15 to around 50 by end of the year. Mody said new hiring will concentrate on things like realty, banking, investing, and product development.
Crowdfunding the city
Nada’s physical growth comes as it’s also bolstering its product offering. After launching its city-specific, index-like Cityfunds product in partnership with crowdfunding investment platform Republic last summer, it has seen investors—both accredited and non-accredited—pour in more than $2 million into its first three Cityfunds in Dallas, Austin, and Miami. The company is expanding into four more cities, including Houston, with the product—which allows people to invest in single-family rental homes and fractionally invest in owner-occupied homes.
“The concept of Cityfunds is unique in the sense that we’re piggybacking on the growth of the cities,” Mody said.
Now, it has its eyes on three more cities, which Mody said Nada chooses based on things like economic growth and home price indexes. However, she added, this time investment will be able to be made directly through Nada’s platform, with Utah’s North Capital acting as a secondary marketplace to trade the Cityfunds.
Launching new debit card
In addition, Nada is gearing up to launch a new debit card product. Along with traditional perks like cash-back rewards, Mody said the card will allow users to receive dividends from their Cityfunds investment, as well as allowing people who purchased a home through the company’s platform to tap into the equity of their home.
“The debit card kind of plays a dual role for homeowners, where you can get your home equity and a debit card right then and there, and then you use it for whatever you want,” Mody said.
‘Audience overlap’
Nada was launched in 2019, gaining early traction via the Google Cloud for Startups and the UT Austin Texas Venture Labs programs. It merged in 2020 with SubZero Realty in a move to bring all of the real estate industry’s verticals under one brand, allowing users to pay nothing to sell or close on a home. So far, the company has raised around $3.4 million from backers like Global Millennial Capital and through crowdfunding efforts on the Republic platform.
New funding round ‘in next few weeks’
And the company will soon likely raise more. While declining to disclose specific amounts, Mody said the company is expecting to close on a Series A funding round “in the next few weeks.”
That new funding will help propel Nada’s future growth as it looks to add up to around 30 total Cityfunds across the U.S. and abroad.
“As we’re building our product, you’ll see where we’re keeping a two-sided marketplace in mind,” Mody said. “There’s the homeowner, there’s an investor, and there’s clearly a big overlap between…audiences.”
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