Landed is a San Francisco-based residential real estate company offering a shared-equity down payment program for essential employees, initially focused on educators. Its program invests alongside employees to help them reach a 20% down payment, providing up to $120,000 per household as an equity investment that shares in a portion of the gain or loss when the home is sold or refinanced. The company intends to use the newly raised funds to expand operations and broaden its business reach across the United States. Landed raised a $10.5M Series A extension led by Omers Ventures with participation from existing investor Initialized Capital. The extension brought total funding to over $22M and includes a board addition: Omers Ventures managing partner Michael Yang will join Landed’s board. Led by Alex Lofton, Landed partners with educators and other essential workers to enable homeownership in their communities. Landed provides down-payment assistance to educators by investing in a share of a home’s future appreciation in exchange for funds toward the down payment. The company manages the funds it sets up and, as Landed, Inc., is a licensed real estate brokerage that earns money on transactions. To date Landed has helped more than 200 educators buy homes across the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver, and Seattle. In the Bay Area the company currently offers up to $120,000 in support, though people generally take less. Landed does not impose income restrictions and positions itself for educators who earn too much to qualify for some city-run housing programs. With the new funding it plans to expand into additional cities and to serve educators beyond K–12, while acknowledging that local tech IPOs and tight supply may make some markets more challenging. Landed helps educators, administrators and support staff buy homes by offering to pay up to half of the required 20% down payment with no interest or monthly payments. Its capital is structured as a shared-equity contribution: Landed recoups its investment when the home is sold or refinanced and assumes or shares up to 25% of the home’s appreciation or depreciation. Landed generates revenue by taking a cut of the standard referral fee earned by real estate agents it connects to buyers, who do not pay extra to use the service. The company pairs applicants with local lenders and agents; buyers must provide at least 50% of the down payment while Landed covers the remainder. A $5M pledge from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will fund assistance for roughly 60 educators and support staff at three schools near Facebook’s headquarters, with any upside reinvested into the CZI fund to sustain future down payments. CEO Jonathan Asmis frames the program as a way to stabilize teacher housing, reduce turnover, and help educators stay in the communities they serve.

Total raised

$23M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Jun 2020