Republic Ventures into Real Estate by Acquiring Compound

First entering the scene to provide access to startup crowdfunding investment, Republic is growing further still. In mid-June 2020, Republic announced the acquisition of Compound, which expands Republic’s crowdfunding investment portfolio to attractive real estate.

How Republic Aims to Change Crowdfunding

In 2016, the same year it was made possible to invest in startups as a private individual thanks to Title III of the JOBS Act, Republic seized this legislative offering and established a democratized platform for easy startup investments. However, the link between passing the law and Republic is more entangled than you would think.

Republic was founded under the umbrella of AngelList, the world’s online investment behemoth that was critical in passing the JOBS Act. Accordingly, Republic still serves within the strategic partnership of AngelList.

Although every startup that decides to use Republic’s crowdfunding platform can set its own minimum investment, Republic allows you to micro-invest, at a minimum of $10. Micro-investing is similar to that of purchasing fractional shares with Robinhood and other brokerages.

Usually, the average micro-investment ranges between $50 and $250. The larger your investment sum is, the larger your RoI is if the startup turns into a successful venture or if it is acquired at a higher price. You can track your startup investment via Republic’s Crowd Safe.

Republic’s Steady Expansion

Befitting a company that enjoys the benefits of a wide range of expertise from AngelList, Republic doesn’t stay still. So far, Republic, headed by CEO Kendrick Nguyen, has developed three subdivisions of their core crowdfunding business model:

• Republic Crypto – beginning last year with the full adaptation of their services for those eager to use cryptocurrencies.
• Republic Labs – starting this year with the focus on affiliated investment advisory service.
• Republic Real Estate – just like your regular startup crowdfunding, but for vetted real estate of high appeal.

The most recent expansion, Republic Real Estate, occurred on June 15th, 2020, with the merger of Compound. This real estate investment platform works just like you would think. You buy into real estate property with small increments, and then you get a RoI in various forms:

• As a passive income coming out of rental payments without requiring your engagement.
• As a way to offset your tax burden when investing in real estate.
• As a way of bulwarking yourself against inflation given that real estate value tends to increase over time.

Thanks to Compound’s experienced team of real estate experts, funded by venture capitalists such as Founders Fund, NEA, Kairos, and Global Founders Capital, Compound’s absorption into Republic already yields three real estate investment opportunities at Republic Real Estate, covering Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida. All three are under Reg CF securities exemption, which is quite a rarity for such offerings.

Lastly, it would be odd for a startup crowdfunding platform like Republic to expand into real estate without first reaching into a natural fit for crowdfunding – video games. They have accomplished just such a merger early this year with the acquisition of Fig, a platform that uses Reg A+ to crowdfund promising games.

Last year, Republic pushed the boundaries of the SEC’s Reg A exemption by giving away a revenue sharing token for free. The platform has since shown increased interest in the security token space. The most of recent of which came through a partnership with Althea to facilitate a compliant security token airdrop.

It seems Republic wants to become an all-in-one crowdfunding platform, suitable for everyone over 18 years old. Have you dabbled into one of their crowdfunding divisions? We want to know what you think in the comments section below.