With close to 40 years of experience working in the real estate market, Anil Valbh saw a scenario that played out time and time again for companies. High-potential businesses would hit a point when the funding they needed outweighed what was available.
With hedge funds and private equity specifically, there would often be an upper limit of funding which hindered these companies and ultimately made the projects unviable because they simply didn’t have the volume of funds they needed.
These barriers to VC investment have a detrimental effect on business, limiting growth and scale when it matters. For businesses looking to grow rapidly, Anil knew that a secure, efficient, and scalable solution to funding was needed.
That’s why alongside Abhesh Verma and Prabhat Singh, Anil created DigiFunds. They saw a gap in the market to build a platform that not only provided an alternative to traditional funding models, but would also change venture capital into a more secure, transparent, and democratic industry for all.
This month, we sat down with Anil to delve deeper into his real estate background, and find out about how digital asset-backed investing will revolutionize capital funding and drive business growth.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What led you to start DigiFunds?
Frustratingly, I witnessed traditional funding models such as bank loans or private venture capital firms often overlook smaller businesses, hindering their growth potential.
My experience in real estate and my knowledge of digital assets inspired me to build a platform that would provide a secure, transparent, and democratic solution to the traditional funding model. DigiFunds operates like an open exchange for investors, allowing businesses to raise capital through digital assets, which are backed by real investments. The platform enables investors and companies to hold all documents securely online, manage their assets directly, and track funding progress.
What makes DigiFunds unique?
Nothing like DigiFunds has yet been created. We have a unique financial capacity, matched with security and compliance. We are solving the financial challenges faced by companies and investors by providing a digital asset market, specifically to raise capital for businesses under legal guidelines
DigiFunds is built on blockchain technology, providing a more secure and transparent fundraising model, and a decentralized asset management system that ensures compliance with legal regulations and oversight requirements. The web3 structure of shared ownership and DigiFund’s open-source market model also means that companies can reach greater profitability by opening up their venture to a wider cohort of investors from all walks of life.
Through DigiFunds, businesses can raise an initial investment or ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in the global digital coin market and create an exchange for investing and raising future capital to further fund their business. The platform is secure, transparent, and fully compliant with legal regulations, allowing investors to feel secure with their assets.
What are the benefits of investing using digital assets for real estate?
By investing in asset-backed tokens, real estate ventures can experience a more fluid process and a reduction in legal hurdles that often need to be overcome. Additionally, this method involves fewer intermediaries, which increases liquidity.
One of the main advantages of asset-backed token investment is fractional ownership. When ownership is split into digital tokens, it means that buyers can purchase a small portion, which reduces costs and barriers to entry. What’s more, this shared platform means that anyone interested can invest, creating a much greater fundraising potential because the number of potential investors is unlimited. A shared investment model creates more workable funds, which means more moveable capital for investors to channel into growth.
Another advantage of utilizing asset-backed digital tokens is cost reduction. There are fewer costs associated with real estate investment when using this method, and investors can avoid expensive legal and administrative fees. Not only does this improve speed and efficiency, but it can also increase the return on investment.
What is the difference between asset-backed and traditional real estate investment?
Traditional real estate can be quite costly and inefficient, with multiple steps and various parties involved, which can slow down the process. I learned that blockchain-backed digital real estate investment can significantly reduce this process down to a single transaction, or a click of a mouse, by executing a smart contract that utilizes digital currency, resulting in the buyer obtaining a token. This approach not only saves time and money, but is also designed to provide a more positive experience for everyone involved.
In my opinion, digital asset real estate investing is an excellent democratic solution that lowers the barrier to entry for a broad spectrum of individuals from across society. It offers real, tangible assets with a rapidly scalable model that has the potential to build multi-billion businesses. This shared investment model creates more workable funds, which means more moveable capital for investors to channel into growth.
What are the challenges of digital assets for real estate ventures?
Digital assets have many benefits and are now a real competitor to traditional methods for real estate investment but implementing blockchain in the industry has some challenges, including regulatory hurdles and the need for standardization. As a new technology, a framework for regulation isn’t fully in place yet. There is still somewhat of a higher sense of uncertainty about how this will impact digital assets. Backers may be more concerned due to the precarious nature of their investment. Digital real estate assets are also at some risk of fraud, cybersecurity, and hacking threats, despite being far more secure than traditional methods thanks to blockchain technology.
With a verified digital platform such as DigiFunds, you can avoid cumbersome and time-costly legal processes required for obtaining a bank loan, and you can start raising funds on a much quicker time scale. We operate a cutting-edge financial system that is fully compliant with all laws and policies and take care of the legal processes so that businesses can focus on what really matters: fundraising.
To find out more about how asset-backed tokens can work for your real estate investments, head to the DigiFunds website.