StackSource, a real estate fintech platform helping commercial real estate investors find the best financing options for their properties through their online portal, launched an equity funding campaign on WeFunder today. The company is aiming to raise $2.23 Million total in order to grow the business and launch key tech features.
StackSource has also announced that it has now arranged over $250 Million of loans through their online platform, including 50% origination growth in 2020. Launched in 2017, a key to StackSource’s success has been marrying digital technology that aims to streamline and bring transparency to the loan quote comparison process with an expert team of Capital Advisors negotiating financing terms for the firm’s real estate investor clients.
The company is gearing up to release some major enhancements to its commercial financing platform, including a previously announced browser extension offering, which they say is patent-pending. StackSource plans to hire software developers both in the US and internationally as the round comes to a close, as well as a UX Design Lead.
The funding raised in this round will also allow the company to continue hiring Capital Advisors and other real estate finance staff across the country. The firm is currently seeking real estate finance professionals to work in several more key markets or remotely, analysts to perform commercial loan underwriting, and a President of Capital Advisory to continue growing and manage the national real estate finance team.
Tim Milazzo, co-founder and CEO said, “To be honest, while we’ve facilitated over a quarter billion dollars of funding on our platform so far with much more in the pipeline, we’ve never had as much as seven figures in the company’s bank account to grow our tech and operations. Growing the team and continuing to innovate is an extremely exciting proposition. You’re going to see us make a major push to change the real estate finance industry.”
Milazzo and Cofounder Nathan Wall both previously worked for Google among other roles in the advertising technology industry. Wall is a software engineer by trade, and leads the tech-building effort for StackSource. Their growth strategy centers on bringing both speed and transparency to the financing process for commercial real estate investors, and earning referrals based on a superior experience compared to traditional brokers. Prospective borrowers who are seeking capital to develop, acquire, or refinance their commercial properties can submit a loan request through StackSource’s interactive loan portal. Upon submission, the borrower is immediately presented with a list of matched lenders while the request goes through StackSource’s team to vet the underwriting and allow the project to receive financing bids. The lenders providing funding bids on StackSource include a banks, credit unions, life insurers, debt funds, and government agencies like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
StackSource has primarily focused on small-balance commercial mortgage execution in its early days, with more than 100 transactions scattered across the United States completed at an average size of around $2 Million. But as StackSource’s platform is gaining recognition with more established players in the commercial real estate market, they are also tackling larger commercial financing assignments, like a recent $24.5 Million multifamily bridge financing in Pasadena, TX and several other loans closed or in their pipeline in the $10-50 Million range. “This is the top of the second inning for StackSource. We’ve just gotten on the scoreboard and stepping up to the plate again. This is going to be a long game where our ultimate goal is to be the best commercial real estate financing company out there. That’s going to take the best design, tech, and data, all at the fingertips of the best team.”
