如今，有些人可能还认为众筹只是资深投资者不会理会的“小众资本”筹集模式。如果真是这样，那么他们的确该醒一醒了。

其实，包括机构、天使投资人、风险资本家和高净值个人投资者在内的资深投资者们早就已经入主众筹市场了。尤其在地产业，这个新趋势对于所有相关方都有多种影响，对创企、小规模开发商和个人投资者尤甚。

众筹新形式：机构众筹

机构众筹是众筹的一个新领域，大公司或组织通过互联网从机构和可信任的投资者那儿为大型项目筹资。机构众筹通常提供更大型的项目，目标人群为机构投资者或高净值个人，与面向大众的小项目众筹不同。

早在2009年，这一模式就已初露头角。多伦多投资银行公司Optimize Capital Markets成立并通过众筹为一家公司的创新项目（从农业废料生产纸）筹集了500万美元资金。他们还创造了首次众筹募股，为魁北克一多运动用途建筑筹集了250万美元。利用在线众筹模式，这家多伦多公司创造了自己的机构众筹平台，与传统投资银行形成了差异点。

机构地产众筹

同样具有先驱性的是The Carlton Group。它是一家全球地产投资银行公司，2014年4月上线了授信投资者股票众筹平台。这是该领域中机构投资者首例。Carlton于1991年成立，截至目前商业地产交易额超过1000亿美元，是全球地产行业一大巨头。目前，可信任投资者在其平台上有机会投资多种高达10亿美元的商业地产交易投资组合。

从传统观点来看，绝大多数机构投资者拥抱新趋势或新技术的速度都十分缓慢，因为他们不敢试水投资新水域。但Carlton模式后，可能越来越多的机构投资者会开始参与进众筹交易中。

Carlton模式另一个独特之处就在于，其他地产众筹平台只是开发商和投资者之间的一个中介，而Carlton会用自己的资金购买地产加到自己的公司投资组合中，以此方式它共同投资了每一个众筹项目。

其他地产众筹平台针对的还是普通个人投资者，而Carlton瞄准的是可以投入大量资金的顶级投资者，那些在其平台上最起码可以投资100万美元的资深授信投资者。其他平台也开始追逐这些高调投资者，但还不足以与Carlton的规模相提并论。

重量级玩家先后入场

地产众筹平台中，Fundrise在吸引机构投资者资金方面尤为突出。这是一家华盛顿公司，普通人只要花100美元就可投资其平台上项目，同时它还吸引了许多重量级选手在其平台上投资并参与进地产行业。联合创始人兼CEO Benjamin Miller认为“下一阶段就是让地产众筹得到机构普遍认可。”Fundrise从一群高净值投资者，如中国公司人人和Silverstein Properties那共筹集了3800万美元。

P2P金融时代（JOBS法案通过前的时代）知名私募公司Canaan Partners在地产众筹平台Realty Mogul上投资了900万美元。

新趋势的市场影响

这个新趋势将是革命性的，因为地产众筹市场已经在大跃进式地发展。据估计，通过地产众筹平台筹集的资金目前达1.35亿美元，整个地产市场规模13万亿美元。因此众筹平台与机构资金相结合可以更好地吸引和说服其他正在观望的机构投资者和高净值投资者。他们同伴在众筹平台上的成功投资是可以令人放心的证明。

机构地产众筹对该行业未来各方有着不同的影响。机构投资者可以挑选最佳投资机会，而普通个人投资者只有什么吃什么。本质上，大投资者掠走大部分投资机会后，普通大众会被边缘化。

但这一新趋势仍可能对于大众投资者来说是件好事，因为机构资金的加入让他们得以参与一些通常无法参与的高调项目。而且机构投资者是专家，挑选回报最大风险较小的最佳投资项目经验更多，小投资者可以利用这一点，跟随机构投资者的步伐。

对于地产开发商或经理人来说，你们将得益于低成本从各类投资者那筹集大量资金的机会。因为你们现在可以避免中介费用，通过众筹平台直接联系到投资者，同时该过程透明度也更高。

展望未来

地产众筹中的机构资金可能会带来的影响取决于目前众筹市场的发展速度。如果开发商和众筹平台大量宣传，那大众的力量将被更多的地聚集，仍有可能为项目筹得大笔资金。而且当股权众筹相关的《JOBS 法案》Title III 条款得到通过后，股权众筹的限制就会被彻底解除，届时更多资金将从公众那流露。在此背景下，其他条件相同，大众的资金仍可以和机构投资者的资金一战。

初创开发商和经理人应该更乐观地看待机构资金进入众筹市场。你渴求的项目资金可能最终来自于一圈投资者，有可信任（或机构投资者）、未被信任或普通的个人投资者。

机构众筹是目前的趋势，而它的影响只会与日俱增。

Current trends suggest that those who believe crowdfunding is a “minority capital” and that it excludes (to a large extent) the participation of high-profile investors should now reconsider. High-profile investors – institutions, angel investors, venture capitalists, and high net worth individuals – have begun co-investing alongside capital raised from “the crowd”.

In the real estate industry, in particular, this new trend has various implications for all involved, but especially for startups, small scale developers, and individual investors.

A New Form of Crowdfunding: Institutional Crowdfunding

Institutional crowdfunding is a new field in the crowdfunding sector. It involves big businesses or established organizations seeking funding for much larger projects from institutional and accredited investors via the internet. Instead of offering small projects to the crowd for funding, institutional crowdfunding offers bigger projects to target institutional investors or high net worth individuals.

In 2009 we saw a glimpse of this when Optimize Capital Markets, an investment banking firm in Toronto, was launched and later raised $5 million via crowdfunding to finance a company’s innovative project to produce paper from agricultural waste. We also saw them create ICO or initial crowdfunding offering and $2.5 million was raised to fund a Quebec-based multi-sports complex. Using the crowdfunding online model, the firm has created its own Institutional Crowdfunding Marketplace thus differentiating itself from typical investment banks.

Institutional Real Estate Crowdfunding

In a similar pioneering move, The Carlton Group, a global real estate investment banking firm, has launched its accredited investors equity crowdfunding #platform in April 2014 which represents the first of its kind by an institutional investor. Carlton, which was founded in 1991, represents over $100 billion worth of commercial real estate transactions to date and has grown to become a major player in the global real estate industry. Presently, accredited investors are afforded the opportunity of investing in diverse portfolios of commercial real estate transactions worth $1 billion via its crowdfunding platform.

Traditionally, most institutional investors are known to be slow in embracing new trends or advancement in technology, as they oftentimes shy away from testing the investment waters. However, following Carlton’s model more institutional investors may begin to participate in crowdfunded deals.

Another thing unique with Carlton Group’s model lies in the fact that unlike other real estate crowdfunding firms that act as an intermediary between developers and investors, Carlton will be co-investing its own money in every crowdfunded deal by purchasing the real estate as part of its business portfolio.

Moreover, unlike other real estate crowdfunding platforms that target the average individual investors, Carlton is going for top notch investors who can bring in huge amounts into the deals listed on its platform. It is targeting high-profile accredited investors that will invest a minimum of $1 million into some of the project offerings on its platform. Although others are also beginning to target high profile investors, it has thus far been at a lower scale as compared to that of Carlton’s.

Bringing in the Big Boys

Among the real estate crowdfunding platforms, one firm is leading the way in bringing in institutional capital. Fundrise, based in Washington, DC, is not only democratizing real estate investing by allowing $100 investments from the crowd but they are also getting the big boys to put their stake on their platform and participate in the industry. Benjamin Miller, co-founder and CEO of Fundrise, believes “the next phase of the business is to bring institutional acceptance to real estate crowdfunding.” It has now raised a total of $38 million from a group of high net worth investors led by Renren, a Chinese firm, and Silverstein Properties.

Canaan Partners, a well-known private equity firm during the peer-to-peer financing era (the era before the passing into law of the JOBS Act), has also invested in the real estate crowdfunding platform Realty Mogul thus adding $9 million to the firm’s capital.

Market Impact of this New Trend

This new trend promises to be revolutionary, considering the fact that the real estate crowdfunding market is already expanding by leaps and bounds. It is estimated that funds raised through real estate crowdfunding currently accounts for $135 million of the total $13 trillion real estate market. Thus, the infusion of institutional capital into the crowdfunding market place will only make it more attractive and more credible for the institutional investors and other high net worth investors who are watching from the side lines. The success stories of their peers who have invested capital into crowdfunded projects can serve as a proof of concept for many who seek assurance.

Institutional real estate crowdfunding has various implications for the future of the various players involved in the industry. Institutional investors could take away the best deals while the average individual investors will have to make do with what is offered to them. In essence, the crowd could be marginalized as the bigger investors steal away the lion’s share of investment opportunities.

However, it could still prove to be advantageous for the crowd of investors, as the infusion of institutional capital affords them the opportunity of co-investing in more high profile deals they normally wouldn’t have the privilege to participate in. In addition, since institutional investors are experts and more experienced in selecting the best deals that offer the greatest returns with minimal risk, small investors could leverage on this by making their decisions in line with theirs.

As a real estate developer or manager on the other hand, you stand to benefit from the opportunity of raising large capital from a broader spectrum of investors (both from the crowd and institutional investors) for your projects at a low cost. This is because you have the privilege of bypassing intermediary costs as you can now directly connect to investors via a crowdfunding platform while also enjoying greater level of transparency in the process.

Future Outlook

The impact of institutional capital on the real estate crowdfunding landscape will depend on the extent of the growth of the current crowdfunding market. If the power of the crowd is harnessed by developers and crowdfunding platforms with greater intensity through massive online publicity, large amounts of money could still be raised to fund projects. In addition, when the Title III provisions of the JOBS Act, which relates to equity crowdfunding, is finally passed into law in the U.S., the lid will be taken off in equity crowdfunding and thus precipitating greater flow of funds from the public. Against this backdrop, funds raised from the crowd could still compete favorably with that brought in by institutional investors, other things being equal.

Startup developers and estate managers should begin to view the introduction of institutional capital to the crowdfund market with greater optimism. Who knows, that capital you have desperately longed for to fund your project could eventually come from a pool of investments by both accredited (or institutional investors) and non-accredited or average individual investors.

Institutional crowdfunding is in the game to play and its impact could only increase in the days to come.

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