RealtyShares expands the First and Only Full Stack Capital Online Marketplace for Real Estate Investing
SAN FRANCISCO – RealtyShares, a leading online marketplace for real estate crowdfunding, today announced the hiring of Bill Lanting as Vice President of Commercial Debt Originations.
Lanting brings rich financial experience in the real estate syndication and hospitality industries to the online marketplace. A former executive with Radisson Hotels and Wyndham Hotels, he has recently been responsible for bridge loan originations, underwriting, and raising large, multi-million dollar investment funds from institutional investors for Thorofare Capital and Partners Capital. At RealtyShares, he will head the expansion of the platform’s commercial debt product.
“RealtyShares uniquely offers the ability to raise debt and equity capital across both residential and commercial markets for our customers,” said Nav Athwal, RealtyShares Founder and CEO. “Our focus has always been on identifying areas where raising capital is the most inefficient and providing real value there. We started with single family debt and commercial equity, and over the last few months we’ve seen a real increase in interest from our customers in using our platform for commercial debt as well.”
While the company had previously offered commercial debt options on a smaller scale, the hiring of Lanting signals a major commitment to providing real estate developers and operators a one-stop shop for raising the capital they need for projects.
“I’ve always been intrigued by the marketplace lending space, and I saw an opportunity not being fully realized within the industry,” said Lanting. “I think RealtyShares can bring something that nobody else has. By building a platform as a direct lender, with both institutional and private discretionary capital, plus capital available through our network of investors, we will be able to hit all areas of the capital stack from low-risk bridge debt, to more risk-adjusted bridge debt, all the way up into mezzanine debt including equity. Very few entities out there are doing that very well.”
Almost every real estate deal has a debt and equity component. Complementing the experienced commercial equity team lead by Vice President of Commercial Equity Brian Schultz, Lanting’s leadership will enable the commercial debt team to take advantage of the full range of demand from current and prospective customers.
“Bill was an obvious choice,” said Athwal. “He not only has the abilities and the relationships to grow the business, but also has that scrappy attitude and personality you need when your company is still growing. We’re excited to be bringing on a successful and proven leader who can not only establish a brand for RealtyShares within CRE Debt, but also scale that product and grow origination volume for us.”
To date, the RealtyShares network of investors has funded upwards of $200 million across more than 400 investment opportunities on the platform, funding residential and commercial projects in 31 states.
