Proptechs Exporo, McMakler raise record sums in new financing rounds

It’s been a good month for German property fintech startups, with several big new fundraising rounds, including online broker McMakler and crowdfunding specialist Exporo.

The Hamburg-based fintech Exporo raised €43m for expansion in a funding round led for the first time by French venture capital investor Partech, stumping up about half the new funding, with participation from previous investors including e.ventures, Heartcore, and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures. Its last funding round was two years ago, when it raised €8m.

Exporo, a real estate crowdfunding platform, will invest the additional capital in its platform with new offerings, such as a portfolio creator and a real-time commercial centre. It also plans to expand internationally, with a focus on neighbouring European countries France and the Netherlands, and expand its team of 140 people, especially in the areas of real estate, sales and IT.

Since it was founded, Exporo has financed around 200 real estate projects through more than 20,000 clients and has raised more than €420 million, of which its crowdfunders have received €138.4m back already. Its platform allows anyone to invest in projects previously reserved for professionals, with investments from as little as €500.

In addition to financing short-term audited real estate projects with fixed interest rates, investors can invest in individual real estate as owners, taking advantage of the continuous rental income and increasing the value of the property.

The real estate sector has proven to be the most popular destination for all crowdfunding projects across all industries, including startups. According to industry website Crowdfunding.de, investment into non-property German projects raised €80m in crowdfunding in 2018, the real estate sector saw crowdfunded inflows of €210m.

Of this, €125m was raised by Exporo, giving it a 60% market share, followed at a distance by the next four biggest – Zinsbaustein, Engel & Volkers, Bergfurst and Zinsland (only half as big as Exporo, collectively).

So far Exporo hasn’t had any disasters, so its investors have not had to take any losses on their subordinated lending. The company says it has been developing new forms of financing since 2017 to protect investors should the current boom reverse any time soon, including secured first-rank financing claims. The company is expected to turn profitable this year, after cumulative losses of about €6m to end-2017.

It’s clear from Exporo’s strategy that they plan to develop their platform to enable individuals to trade their shares in individual properties, and to create a liquid market where shares can be traded in real-time like shares on the stock market. (See our article in the issue of REFIRE on IPSX, the London-based exchange due to go live later this year.)

Separately, online broker McMakler is reported to have raised €50m in a funding round led by Target Global and Israel Growth Partners. If correct, this would be the biggest sum yet raised by a German proptech company.

The Berlin-based McMakler has plans to become the biggest European digital broker platform, and the money raised will go to boosting its teams in Germany, Austria and France. Its latest funding round, according to business paper Handelsblatt, is being further supported by original backer Target Global, and another injection from Frog Capital.

McMakler was founded in 2015 by Hanno Heintzenberg and Lukas Piecyonka, and by 2018 had already brokered €400m in transaction volume, numbering more than 1,500 properties. By the end of this year it expects transacted volume of €1bn.