Shojin, an FCA-regulated online real estate investment platform, has launched its secondary market offering to accommodate bespoke deals as the fintech scaleup continues to lower barriers to entry to the online property investment market.
Once the investment opportunity in a Shojin product has closed, the investor will then have the ability to list their investment on the secondary market, setting the number of units they are looking to sell and the price per unit. This market will function in a peer-to-peer format, like eBay, where a buyer and seller negotiate directly through offers and counter-offers to come to an agreeable price.
Shojin’s current investment threshold is £5,000, but the introduction of a secondary market will lower the minimum investment ticket size to £100, enabling more people around the world to create wealth by investing a fractional amount in real estate projects.
Sellers will have the ability to exit projects early releasing capital for upcoming or unexpected expenses, rather than staying in projects for the entire duration. Buyers will be able to participate in projects they may have missed on Shojin’s primary market and invest at different stages of project risk.
Both parties can be opportunistic and look to strike a mutually beneficial deal based on their risk and return appetites, along with real estate market sentiment. The negotiation capability of Shojin’s secondary market facilitates all these benefits which will ultimately increase investor confidence.
Jatin Ondhia, CEO of Shojin, said, “As a business, we are always looking for new ways to lower the barriers to entry to property investment. The introduction of a secondary market not only brings a larger number of prospective investors into the fold, but it means they can access the market with a lower initial investment, while simultaneously increasing liquidity for existing investors.
“Adding new investment opportunities to our platform is extremely exciting for us. As a business, we’re at an important inflection point within the real estate investment space. Having made our first investment outside of the UK and with substantial resources in place, we’re ready to continue with our global expansion plans.”
The launch of the secondary market follows Shojin’s Series A first tranche raise of £3million via a global pool of investors at a company valuation of £49million. Earlier in the year, Shojin secured a £5million underwriting facility provided by a London-based family office with a provision to increase it to £10million as the pipeline grows. Having focused exclusively on the UK property market until recently, closing its first non-UK real estate investment in Malaysia, the launch of the secondary market will help create liquidity to draw in new investors as Shojin sets its sights on new investment opportunities across the globe.
