Doorvest

Ninety percent of the world’s millionaires attribute their wealth to real-estate investing.

Doorvest is aiming to create more millionaires.

This real-estate startup simplifies the process of buying and owning an affordable, high-yield investment property. For less than $50,000, users can own a rental home that yields six percent annually. They can also build equity and enjoy many tax advantages.

Doorvest is backed by M13 (a venture-capital fund that invested early in Lyft, Snapchat, and Ring) and Mucker Capital. Other notable investors include founders and executives from Wealthfront, Opendoor (a billion-dollar real-estate company), and Invitation Homes (the largest owner of single-family rentals in America with a nineteen-billion-dollar market cap).

Launched in April 2020, Doorvest experienced 10x growth in 2021. And in 2023, the company became cash-flow positive. Seventy percent of Doorvest users are first-time homeowners, and nearly one in five have already purchased a second home.

This company was created when its founders, Andrew and Justin, were working in tech, and looking to achieve long-term financial security. They turned to real-estate investing (specifically, investing in single-family rental homes) to generate income and build wealth.

And after achieving success — they built a portfolio of a dozen homes in five years — they realized the challenges of the investment process. They wanted to lower the barrier to entry for first-time investors, and set out to create a full-service real-estate investing platform. The result is Doorvest.

Doorvest, as the company says, “lives at the intersection between technology and real estate.” It provides an all-in-one solution for those looking to acquire rental properties. Traditionally, this process can take six months and involve more than two dozen steps. Doorvest trims the steps and completion time in half. Here’s how…

When the company’s system detects a new property, it automatically underwrites it to ensure it meets certain criteria. It also dispatches a nearby general contractor to estimate the renovation cost.

Information is sent to Doorvest’s database and alerts its team of the highest possible bid it can make on the home. Information is updated as the home goes through contract, renovations, inspection, closing, and finally property management. And Doorvest is alerted when timelines are off, budgets are exceeded, and when any discrepancies arise.

Homes are then matched with deposit holders based on their preset criteria. The holder is notified of a potential deal and can choose to begin the process to reserve/purchase the home. Integrations with third-party data providers enables prospective buyers to see information about the neighborhood and schools.

To generate revenue, Doorvest earns a five-percent cut of the home-sale price and collects ten percent of the monthly rent. The company has more than $100 million in assets under management.

Team Background

Andrew Luong - Co-Founder & CEO

Andrew is a real-estate investor and business-development expert.

Prior to starting Doorvest, he was a principal at NextGen Capital Ventures, an investment fund targeting single- and multi-family rental homes across the U.S. Before that, he was a partnerships manager with Human Interest, a financial-services company focused on retirement planning.

Earlier in his career, he helped to grow tech companies including Misfit (acquired), Gengo (acquired), and Indeed.com.

He studied finance at the University of San Francisco.

Justin Kasad - Co-Founder & CTO

Justin is a software developer who’s worked at multiple companies that were acquired.

Most recently, he was a software engineer with Healthline Media, a company publishing health-related news that was acquired. Before that, he was an engineer with HealthTap, a mobile health/wellness app.

Earlier, Justin co-founded 3rd Note, a company developing software and mobile products. Prior to that, he was an engineer with Chegg, a company providing textbooks to college students. He began his career as co-founder of Swaapr, a social network for college students to swap textbooks (acquired by Chegg).

He earned a degree in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara.

Co-Investors

Mucker Capital

Los Angeles based VC. Portfolio includes Task Rabbit and Trunk Club.

M13

A venture capital group investing in early-stage startups. Portfolio includes Lyft, Snapchat, and Ring.