Jasper raises $2.3m led by European real estate investment giant
Proptech startup Jasper has raised $2.3 million in a funding round led by pan-European investment and asset management firm M7 Real Estate, as Jasper gets set to open customer access to commercial property investment.
Jasper was founded by entrepreneurs Mark Hurley, Mark Campbell and Oliver Shaw. The company will launch in New Zealand and Australia this year, with expansion planned for Asia Pacific, Europe and the US within the next three years.
The funds will be used to increase Jasper's engineering capacity, grow the acquisitions team and speed up licensing applications in multiple territories prior to launch.
According to Jasper cofounder and CEO Mark Hurley, commercial real estate is a desirable asset for long term wealth, but many investors can't get access to this type of asset class.
"Our technology-led approach provides efficiency to all parts of the sourcing, syndication and capital raising process, allowing us to offer this asset class to a large number of investors, with lower minimums, lower fees and improved liquidity compared to analogue incumbents," says Hurley.
Jasper says it will allow investors to purchase fractional ownership in high-quality commercial properties using a fully digitised onboarding, accreditation and subscription process. Jasper also plans on providing a secondary market, allowing investors the potential to sell their equity to other investors, giving unprecedented liquidity in a traditionally illiquid asset class.
In addition to backing from M7 Real Estate, Icehouse Ventures, James Property Group and RCP all participated in the funding round.
"M7 is an established European business and their support shows that those at the forefront of the industry see a changing property investment environment led by technology," comments Jasper cofounder and CIO Mark Campbell.
M7 Real Estate CEO Richard Croft adds, "As an investor and asset manager we
recognise the value of Jasper's technology-led marketplace and the potential impact it will
have on the commercial property sector.
"We've seen strong global demand for attractive yields and believe the Jasper platform will
provide a significant new opportunity for these investors going forward. We love what the
team at Jasper are building and are excited to be joining them on this journey.
Jasper's Mark Hurley is a tech entrepreneur and previous EY Entrepreneur of the year finalist, Hurley sold his previous company Little Giant to Dentsu Aegis Media in 2017.
Mark Campbell is a seasoned commercial real estate executive with experience in Australasian and European markets, who has recently been leading a $12 billion (NZD) joint venture between a leading US Private Equity firm and M7.
