Indiegogo Exec Joins RE Crowdfunding Site

LOS ANGELES—Adam Chapnick, the first employee and a former principal at crowdfunding site Indiegogo, has joined the newly launched commercial real estate crowdfunding platform AssetAvenue. Chapnick will serve as chief strategy officer for the site.

“I had such an amazing experience at Indiegogo building something from nothing,” Chapnick tells GlobeSt.com. “It was a rewarding feeling to see the impact that we made on people as we provided them something that they were never able to have access to, in that case it was funding for whatever it was that mattered to them. When I met David Manshoory (AssetAvenue founder and CEO) and talked to him about what they were doing, it really resonated with me in a similar way. This is a way where regular people can get all of the amazing benefits of participating in quality investments without devoting the time to becoming an expert.”

While crowdfunding in the real estate sector is becoming popular with new companies springing up across the country, it is still relatively new. Chapnick plans on taking some time in this new position to really learn the intricacies of commercial real estate investing and how it can be applied to the crowdfunding model. “Not only do I plan on learning the ins-and-outs of commercial real estate construct, but much more learning the different sides of the marketplace because we serve both investors and operators,” he says. Each of those has distinct points that we are looking to solve.”

Chapnick's move from Indiegogo at this time really shows his belief in real estate crowdfunding and in AssetAvenue's structure and goals. Indiegogo recently raised over $10 million in series B fundraising. “When the Jobs Act was passed, in the ensuing months, there was a lot of credence that investing into start-ups would change people's lives. All of the crowdfunding opportunities that would happen with equity were really exciting in the angel investing and start-up space, but people forget that successful investors have to spread their bets over a portfolio of investments that are likely to fail,” says Chapnick. “The space that makes a really big difference is real estate, and that is because the asset class underneath is something that has an inherent value.”