withco announces $30M+ in funding to empower small business owners to become commercial property owners

NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- withco, the first commercial property ownership platform for small businesses, announced it has raised over $30 million in equity funding. The company's lead investors are Canaan, Founders Fund, Initialized Capital, and NFX. Other notable investors include Danny Meyer's Enlightened Hospitality Investments, LEN^X (Lennar's venture arm), Ken Chenault, Thirty Five Ventures, Venus Williams, Will Smith's Dreamers VC, BoxGroup, Not Boring Capital, Quiet Capital, and the founders and CEOs of Affirm, Carta, DoorDash, Faire, Hippo, Invitation Homes, Opendoor, Plaid, and more.

Founded by Kevin Song in 2019, withco is a social impact-driven company on a mission to help small business owners benefit from the value they create in their neighborhoods by becoming commercial property owners. withco was inspired by Song's family's experience successfully operating a Brooklyn grocery store only to be displaced after decades.

"We are grateful to have quietly built a pioneering business over the last two years with a world-class team and the resources and guidance from not only the most successful innovators in real estate, but also the greatest champions of small business in America," said Song. "We've reviewed thousands of small business partnerships and property investment opportunities and are committed to supporting our next 100 small business partners in 2022."

While many small business owners can qualify for a lease, very few are able to secure a large enough down payment to qualify for a mortgage. withco's platform programmatically buys commercial real estate in partnership with high-quality small business owners and works to transition them to full ownership over the course of a standard lease term.

Keith Rabois, Partner at Founders Fund, compared withco to two multi-billion dollar businesses he helped create, Square and Opendoor, saying "withco is a category-creating technology company that uses data, expertise, and capital to level the playing field. We are proud to partner with the withco team as they help thousands of small businesses turn one of their largest expenses - rent - into meaningful wealth."

The small business commercial real estate market sees over $90 billion worth of deal flow annually, but lacks a buyer who can efficiently price and purchase long-tail transactions. withco partners with landlords and their agents to be an institutional-grade buyer through data-driven offers and quick and efficient closing processes.

"The market for buying and selling small business properties has historically been very fragmented, opaque, and inefficient," said Rich Boyle, Partner at Canaan and former CEO & Chairman of LoopNet, the leading online marketplace for commercial properties. "withco is filling a missing piece of the market for sellers and their agents by acting as a capitalized, data-driven investor that can efficiently purchase inventory that no one can or is willing to understand."

withco is focused on purchasing occupied small business properties that cost less than $5 million across the United States with focus markets in the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. The company will use its funds to invest in its platform, launch new markets, and build partnerships with leading brokers and developers. The company is actively raising deal capital and hiring across its team.

About withco
withco is the leading commercial property ownership platform for small businesses in the nation. The company offers small business owners a lease-to-own product and uses data to programmatically purchase properties. Backed by Canaan, Founders Fund, Initialized Capital, NFX, and others, withco is headquartered in New York and operates nationwide. For more information, please visit www.with.co or contact [email protected].

About Canaan
Canaan is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs with visionary ideas. With over $5 billion under management, a diversified fund, and hundreds of exits to date, we partner with entrepreneurs building the next generation of technology and healthcare companies that will transform how we live, work, and thrive. To learn more about our people and our portfolio, please visit http://www.canaan.com.

About Founders Fund
Founders Fund invests in the world's most important and valuable companies across all geographies, sectors and stages. The firm's partners have been founders and early funders of companies including PayPal, SpaceX, Palantir, Airbnb, Stripe and Facebook. Founders Fund pursues a founder-friendly investment strategy, providing maximum support with minimum interference.

About NFX
NFX is a leading pre-seed and seed-stage venture firm based in San Francisco, CA, and Herzlia, Israel. Founded by entrepreneurs who built 10 companies with more than $10 billion in exits across multiple industries and regions, NFX is transforming how true innovators are funded. With expertise in platforms and network effects, NFX partners with the world's best founders to solve problems - at scale - with the power of technology. For more details, please visit www.nfx.com

About Initialized Capital
Initialized Capital is an early-stage venture firm that invests with conviction before it's obvious. We're a diverse group of founders, builders, and operators who understand how hard it is to build a company. We back visionaries using software to make civilization better and support them through product-market fit and beyond. We're early believers in companies like Coinbase, Instacart, Flexport, and Cruise. Initialized's portfolio—which spans over six core funds —is worth close to $200 billion in market value with 22+ companies valued at $1 billion or more and 5 valued over $10 billion.

Contact:
Ilyas Frenkel
646-707-2181
[email protected]

SOURCE withco