As CrowdProperty Australia gears up for a seed round raise in August, its UK counterpart oversubscribed a raise by 227 percent, securing £1.8m.

Seeking to raise $1.25m in seed funding in August, CrowdProperty Australia is confident about the prospects for marketplace lending for SME property developments.

Chief executive and co-founder of the Australian operation David Ingram believes the UK’s success in its first seven years demonstrates the potential for scaling the Australian business.

“This is the third time our UK joint venture partners have raised capital, oversubscribing each time,” Mr. Ingram said.

“Our pre-seed round for CrowdProperty Australia was also oversubscribed by 50 percent and we already have strong interest in our upcoming seed round.”

Since launch in May 2021, CrowdProperty Australia has already reviewed over $100m worth of SME property projects and financed three projects for over $2.3m. Meanwhile, its UK colleagues recently secured a £300m institutional funding line and completed a hat trick of records in May, lending £8.3m, paying back £7.5m, and receiving £285m of funding applications from SME property professionals.

The UK business has now funded the development of 1,535 homes worth £309m, originating £187m of agreed facilities and lending £145m to date.

Mike Bristow , CEO of CrowdProperty UK and director of the Australian joint venture, said the firm has proven the profitability of the business model in recent years while still investing in growth.

“We’ve again proven we can scale rapidly and add considerable value with equity capital investment,” Mr. Bristow said.

“This round is to further step change the business and to realise our potential quicker in our mission to transform property finance — to unlock the power of SME property developers, to build more homes, increase spend in the economy, and ever more efficiently and effectively match the supply and demand of capital for the benefit of all.

“We have built a very strong pipeline that currently stands at £322m of progressed quality lending opportunities in the UK, and we see the Australian pipeline growing strongly. All of this is underpinned by a highly scalable, in-house built, proprietary technology platform, scalable capital sources and deep expertise in exactly the asset class being lent against.”

CrowdProperty Australia offers wholesale investors (including eligible SMSFs, trusts and companies) and institutional groups with opportunities to invest in high quality, residential property projects via its bespoke platform and in-house property development expertise. As a marketplace lending platform, it offers investors a way to earn up to seven percent target income returns* on short term investments secured by first mortgage, typically paying back in 12 to 18 months.

*Target returns, not forecast returns. For wholesale investors only. Terms, conditions, and risks apply.