WTF is Happening? How Airbnb and Uber are Reinventing Economics

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Airbnb owns no real estate…..Uber owns no vehicles.

Ten years ago I bet you had never heard of Airbnb or Uber, in fact even a few years ago these companies weren’t household names. Today they are getting bigger and bigger in the economic world of the “sharing economy”.

 

Airbnb and Uber are US tech start-ups that chose their industry  – Airbnb (hospitality) and Uber  (transport) these startup disruptors are today worth $30B  and $68B respectively. 

These industries have been shaken up to the detriment of the existing incumbents and they are not going away. They’ve upset a lot of people along the way, leaving other competitors fighting to remain profitable and regulators playing catch up.

So why are they thriving?

People now see a clear benefit in using financial technology services over outdated old world businesses, the last 5 years has seen the economic landscape reshaped to the point of no return. 

WTF is happening?

What’s happening is a massive economic shift on a global scale, it’s a reinvention of how we transact and how much we pay for a service.

The invention of an internet based scalable service on an inefficient industry has been made possible by financial technology or fintech. It’s the start of what I call the smarter economy.

This global change is transforming not just transport and hospitality but also property and finance, the banks are in the fintech cross hairs scrambling to remain profitable and relevant.

Our Banking System – Get Set for Disruption

In the smarter economy, banks become less relevant as consumers (both businesses and individuals) realise the Uber effect -smarter and cheaper ways to borrow, invest, research and transact.

Imagine a massive 150-year-old organisation with hundreds of shopfront locations, thousands of staff, old and clunky internal processes and life long employees on huge salaries. Sound expensive? It is expensive….this is your typical incumbent bricks and mortar bank still making huge year on year profits.

Users of banks are becoming smarter and empowered through technology. Do we need to visit a bank to transact? No. Do people want a better deal from their bank? Yes. Do people have loyalty to their bank? No.

So where will we be in 10 or 20 years in the smarter sharing economy? I’m not 100% sure but I can guarantee many of the traditional business models will no longer be around and although many new businesses will fail you can bet the likes of AirBnB and Uber will be thriving.

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Crowd Property Capital is a non-bank lender that effectively cuts out the middle-men in business loan transactions. Put simply an investor (business or individual) who has funds to loan can provide a borrower with these funds on agreed terms. The lender receives a rate between 8-12% pa and the borrower gets access to funds faster.  Investments are available on a wholesale basis to local and international sophisticated investors with a minimum investment of $500,000 AUD. For more information visit www.crowdpropertycapital.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shark Tank Rejected Property Investment Platform Reloads

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January 2017

 

In what was one of Shark Tank Australia’s biggest shutdowns of the second season, founder of Crowd Property Capital (CPC) David Lovato reflects on what was a cringe-worthy flat out rejection on national TV.

“From the moment I entered the shark tank I realised they hated the idea of backing a property industry start-up. I was a made to look like a property industry villain and walked straight into a bear trap.

I didn’t get any feedback from the show until the actual airing. As soon as I watched it I knew it was bad. Instead of my mates giving it to me there were crickets; not a word of banter but rather uncharacteristic blokey support which was concerning”

Fast-forward 6 months and the impact of getting on the show (and failing) has inadvertently become a major factor towards the early success of CPC. The online property development funding platform has taken on board the collective criticism from the sharks and changed the focus of the business model.

Originally the CPC platform was pitching to smaller retail investors, the focus is now purely on the sophisticated investor interested in lending debt capital to developers solely on a 1st mortgage basis.

The reality is, property development and investment are inherently risky and investors entering this space usually have substantial funds to invest, an appetite for risk and it’s not usually their first deal.

“There has been a lot of buzz around the ability of the online community via P2P and crowdfunding to open up the property industry to smaller retail investors. I learned from the Shark Tank that even the sharks don’t fully understand the risks and returns in property development; so obtaining investment from smaller “unsophisticated” retail investors is a hard sell.”

Since the Shark Tank pitch last year, David’s taken a measured approach to growing the CPC investment platform.

Teaming up with existing established private lenders, CPC has found its place in the market by offering 1st mortgage security investments yielding between 8 to 12% annually. The CPC website www.crowdpropertycapital.com.au showcases some of the available debt finance deals. This web-based platform provides wider access to potential investors both locally and offshore. All investments are debt style and start at a minimum of $500,000 AUD.

“CPC is essentially evolved into what I’d call a “trad-tech” investment platform. We are focusing on partnering with established private lenders to increase their investor base as there is a huge demand at the moment for non-bank finance.  

With the major banks reducing their exposure to development debt finance local developers are seeking additional funds to complete their project pipeline. 

Traditional private lenders have numerous quality deals with great returns that they are struggling to fund purely due to the gap that has emerged in the market from the majors scaling back. With the property market so hot at the moment, we are focused on cherry picking the best deals. Quality, not quantity is key.”