Landed Raises $10.5 Million To Help Professionals Build Financial Security

By Annie Baker ● Jun 29, 2020
  • Landed, a San Francisco-based company that helps essential professionals build financial security near the communities they serve, announced that it raised $10.5 million

Landed, a San Francisco-based company that helps essential professionals build financial security near the communities they serve, announced that it raised $10.5 million in Series A extension funding led by OMERS Ventures. Including this round of funding, the company has raised over $22 million in venture capital. And existing investor Initialized Capital also joined the round.

This funding round is in addition to the private equity real estate capital Landed has raised for its down payment program at over $50 million. OMERS Ventures Managing Partner Michael Yang will join the Landed board in connection with the funding,

How does Landed work? Landed offers a shared equity down payment program for essential employees (starting with educators) who wish to buy homes in the communities where they work, across the US. And Landed’s down payment program invests alongside employees in education to help them reach a 20% down payment. Landed’s funds (up to $120,000 per household) come in the form of an equity investment, meaning that homebuyers share in a portion of the gain – or loss if any – of the value of the home once it’s sold or refinanced.

The U.S. housing market increased by $1.9 trillion in 2019 to a total value of $33.3 trillion with millennials at the cusp of being the largest demographic of homebuyers. But this group faces financial stress linked to affordability and accessibility, both of which have been exacerbated by the recent pandemic-related uncertainty. And those stresses are especially acute for educators — whose income has not kept pace with median housing costs. In response to the issue, new homeownership models have started evolving, most notably from an emerging class of alternative financing start-ups like Landed.

Key Quotes:

“Landed has a unique mission to help essential professionals find a path to home ownership, including through its dedicated team of agents and experts. We look forward to working with Jonathan Asmis and Alex Lofton, and the entire Landed team, to help the company continue to grow, while amplifying its positive impact.”

– OMERS Principal and proptech specialist Michelle Killoran

“Educators are part of the heartbeat of our communities – they are stable, responsible professionals that we all rely on. But unless they get financial support from mom and dad, it’s become near impossible to save for a 20% down payment while also paying rent and other expenses. Landed is changing all this by supporting those who uphold our communities: we have started with our educators and plan to extend our work to other essential professionals like healthcare workers. This investment will help us do just that.”

“We felt alignment with OMERS Ventures from the very start. There’s a wonderful synergy in knowing that they are investing on behalf of half a million employees of municipalities and local agencies. In different ways, Landed and OMERS are both working to support the financial security of essential workers.”

– Landed co-founder Alex Lofton