Shojin Property Partners launch Property Crowdfunding Platform

[Gareth Bain]

SHOJIN PROPERTY PARTNERS LAUNCHES CROWDFUNDING PROPERTY INVESTMENT PLATFORM

Shojin Property Partners is pleased to announce the launch of its FCA regulated crowdfunding platform within the property sector. On 27th September, Shojin launched its crowdfunding platform which will connect investors looking to invest in property with property developers looking for funding. Property crowdfunding is not new, but what makes Shojin unique is that it charges no upfront fees, but rather co-invests alongside its investors on every project.

Unlike other crowdfunding property investment companies, Shojin Property Partners gives investors the opportunity to invest in development projects. On its platform investors can diversify their investment portfolio and mitigate risk by investing as little as £5,000 alongside other investors and achieve returns similar to those of a developer.

Jatin Ondhia, CEO of Shojin Property Partners, said “We are launching a Crowdfunding 2.0 model. We carry out thorough due diligence on each project, invest our own money and then share profits at the end. We are therefore fully aligned with investors. This is the way Crowdfunding should be done.”

“Historically, lots of small investors would not have been able to invest in development projects. However, with Crowdfunding technology it is now easier to manage and therefore opens up to a much larger pool of investors”.

Crowdfunding has revolutionised the way people invest in property. No longer is property investment for the rich and elite but is accessible to more people. Crowdfunding platforms allow investors to test the waters by making small investments in a number of different projects and at the same time learning about the property industry.

“Our crowdfunding platform was developed to bring together like-minded people with a common goal of investing in property development” said Sandeep Kapur, Chief Technology Officer. The process is simple: create an account to become a member. Once you are a member you will be presented with opportunities not visible to the general public. When you find an attractive opportunity, just read through the due diligence on the property and, if you’re happy to proceed, go ahead and invest. Then sit back, relax and wait for regular updates from the team.

This is the very first crowdfunding platform that aligns its interest with the interests of its investors. Every investment opportunity is handpicked and goes through three levels of stringed due diligence before being presented onto the platform.


The company was founded by Jatin Ondhia, a former UBS investment banker, and Sandeep Puri, a qualified quantity surveyor with a long history working with large homebuilders such as Wimpey and Redrow Homes. Coming together, they formed a unique partnership of development and investment experience in the London property environment. Since 2009 they have developed, invested and raised in excess of £14m for their 8 development projects.

Shojin Property Partners is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Due to the nature of its business it targets high net worth and sophisticated investors and requires all investors to become members on the platform before being presented with investment opportunities.

If investors are interested in becoming members of the Shojin Property Partners community, please get in touch with them as they have a number of projects available for investment across the country. Please call 0203 871 5959 or visit www.shojin.co.uk or find them on Facebook. Shojin Property Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 716765). Shojin Property Partners is a trading name of Shojin Financial Services (company number 09697161) and the registered office is at Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon Street, London, WC2N 4JF.

 

[diyhelp]

I like the idea of companies offering crowd funding also having an equity stake in ventures - always keeps the mind focused

 

[Gareth Bain]

@diyhelp
We believe that if an investor is prepared to take a risk then so are we.

How we mitigate this risk is by having our team of internal experts do 3 levels of due diligence on every project. Only once we are happy as a company, will we present an opportunity to investors and co-invest alongside them.

We don't charge any fees to investors so the only way that we make money is by co-investing in successful projects. So it is important that we only invest in successful projects. We ultimately align our interests with those of our investors.

 

[realdeals]

Surely you must get a better investment deal or some kind of commission from the underlying client looking for investment? I am not sure where your income comes from as any return on a direct investment is not guaranteed.

 

[Gareth Bain]

Surely you must get a better investment deal or some kind of commission from the underlying client looking for investment? I am not sure where your income comes from as any return on a direct investment is not guaranteed.

Hi @realdeals, we take no commission on any of our investments but make our profit share by co-investing alongside our investors. We only get our return when investors get their returns.

No investment is guaranteed and your capital is always at risk. However, we help to mitigate this risk to investors by conducting 3 levels of due diligence on every project, monitor the project until completion and we co-invest alongside our investors.

 

[Longterminvestor]

That sounds extremely interesting - there are not too many business models like for real estate investors.

 

[Gareth Bain]

There are not a lot of companies out there that align their interests with their investors. We feel that this model represent how we like to work with our investors. We are both in the same boat and we both don't want to lose our investment.

Our team will do everything they can to make sure that they mitigate risk as much as possible. Your capital is always at risk and no one can predict the future. All we are saying is that we are with you in this journey.

 

[Gareth Bain]

@John Corey

As per our FCA license, we are currently able to market our investment opportunities to both HNW and Self certified sophisticated investors. In the future, we are looking to include restricted retail investors and expand our business footprint.

In order for investors to be able to invest on the Shojin Property Partners platform, they would need to register, become a member and pass the appropriateness test set out as per FCA’s requirements. Once you have passed the test, we are able to show investors investor exclusive opportunities not visible to the general public.

In terms of your second question. For investors, what makes Shojin different from others is that we charge no fees, commissions or upfront management costs but rather co-invest alongside investors on every opportunity and share profit upon completion. Since we invest our own money in every investment opportunity, we need to make sure that we mitigate risk. To do this, our team of experts conduct 3 levels of due diligence on every investment opportunity before presenting it to investors. We are also very proud to own our own FCA license.

From a developer’s fundraising point of view, we partner with developers instead of charging fees. We offer 90% equity funding to developers. Although we specialise in equity funding we can also assist with debt funding and help the developer raise up to 96% of total project cost. We co-invest with the developer, charge no fees or commissions and share the risk with the developer by aligning our interest and sharing profits if the project succeeds.

I appreciate there is a lot of information above but happy to have a more detailed conversation with you at the Property Investor Show this weekend.

 

[lookinginvest]

What kind of track record do you have so far or is it early days?

 

[Gareth Bain]

@lookinginvest

Shojin Financial Services has been trading since 2009 and has delivered a number of successful projects. Since launching our crowdfunding platform and becoming FCA regulated we operate under the umbrella name of Shojin Property Partners.

We currently have 1 project live on our platform at the moment with a number of projects in the pipeline for the coming weeks.

To find out more about our track record, current projects and projects open for investment please visit www.shojin.co.uk and register to become a member. Once a member we can show you projects to visible by the general public.

 

[Gareth Bain]

We structure investment opportunities that may be of interest to HNW investors and sophisticated investors. This ranges from equity in property development projects, mezzanine loans and bridge loan type investments. Our products are always structured as bonds or equity. We do not do P2P loans.


Our USP is that we carry our all the due diligence and co-invest in every project. We oversee the projects and act to protect the interests of the investors. We only make money when there are profits and the investors get paid, so our interests are aligned.

 

[Analia Siele]

Hi, I would like to know more about this services, and if you can be interested in helping me with the purchase of a 32 units building in Uruguay. Please let me know. Thank you!

 

[nmb]

I was just wondering what is the maximum stake Shojin Property Partners would take in a property venture promoted on their crowd funding platform?

 

[Gareth Bain]

Hi, I would like to know more about this services, and if you can be interested in helping me with the purchase of a 32 units building in Uruguay. Please let me know. Thank you!

Hi Analia,

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately we only fund development projects within the UK. If you have anything in the UK we would be happy to have a conversation.

 

[Gareth Bain]

I was just wondering what is the maximum stake Shojin Property Partners would take in a property venture promoted on their crowd funding platform?

Hi NMB,

Shojin Property Partners typically provides 90% of the equity required by the developer on a project. Holistically this equates to a 70% bank loan, 27% of Shojin equity and 3% of developer equity to make up the project costs, sharing profits 50:50 at the backend between yourself and Shojin.

I hope this answers your question. If you need any further information, please feel free to send me an email [email protected]

Thanks
Gareth

 

[realdeals]

Do you publish a track record of your investments and what kind of returns they have delivered?

 

[Gareth Bain]

Do you publish a track record of your investments and what kind of returns they have delivered?

Hi Realdeals

We publish our track record and project returns on our website www.shojin.co.uk

Due to FCA regulations, we require investors to register on our site in order to view investment opportunities, our track record and project returns.

 

[diyhelp]

For me personally, this offers the best of both worlds, a crowdfunding opportunity but one which is backed by the crowdfunding website owners themselves. If they win then other investors win.

 

[Gareth Bain]

For me personally, this offers the best of both worlds, a crowdfunding opportunity but one which is backed by the crowdfunding website owners themselves. If they win then other investors win.

We only present investment opportunities to investor that we are prepared to invest our own money into the project. We feel comfortable in our business model because we perform stringent due diligence on every project. By aligning our interest with those of our investors we are a partner rather than a broker. Unlike other companies, we don't just connect Person A (someone who needs money) with Person B (someone who has money).

 

[Longterminvestor]

Hi Gareth,

I am intrigued as this sounds perfect. I presume you receive an introductory fee when you arrange loan finance, etc as opposed to equity finance? The strategy of investing in projects you offer to your customers is very reassuring.