Venn Korea Starts Crowdfunding Campaign

Venn Korea Starts Crowdfunding Campaign to Launch Independent Commercial Real Estate Aggregator in South Korea

Auckland, 12 September 2016 – New Zealand company Venn Korea today launches its crowdfunding campaign as part of its efforts to become South Korea’s premier commercial real estate hub.

The offer represents an opportunity to invest in Venn Korea at the earliest stage. Having boot-strapped the business, brand and platform thus far, the company is excited to begin its crowdfunding round. Venn is seeking to raise between $100,000 and $500,000 from the sale of shares to improve its sales and operation unit as well as improve its advertising and marketing position.

The offer, which opens at 10.00am today, is being made through AlphaCrowd'sequity crowd funding platform. Investments begin at $1,000 for asset class, ordinary shares. The investment memorandum can be found here.

Venn want to shift how tenants and buyers, and agents and owners, connect in the South Korean Market, you can view their video explainer here.

The commercial real estate market in South Korea comprises three major tiers: major agencies, minor agencies and direct listings. There is an absence, and opportunity, in the market for a dominant listings aggregator that spans all three.

Developed in New Zealand by David Kim and Shaan Joshi, Venn aims to address a gap in South Korea’s commercial real estate market. The company aims to become South Korea’s most complete online marketplace specifically focusing on commercial real estate and targeting all tiers within the industry.

Existing aggregators predominantly focus on residential property and are not specifically tailored for commercial real estate. The current process for tenants and buyers is inefficient and lacks well designed user interfaces and usability.

“The potential within the commercial real estate market is huge, we’re combining that with a proven business model and great technology,” says David Kim, Founder and Managing Director, Venn Korea. “Research on South Korea’s leading search engine shows over 76,000 commercial real estate listings.”

The Venn platform has been developed in Korean to provide three core services to the market:

• Tenants and buyers can search for listings

• Agents and owners can list property

• Brands and companies can advertise within the online platform

Funds raised will be used to support Venn’s marketing functions, building brand awareness and positioning the company as the premier commercial real estate hub of South Korea. Funds will also support ongoing development, improvements and functionality of the Venn platform.

“Venn is an innovative platform and will continue to bring new and improved experiences to the market and our rapidly growing user base. We’ve already delivered a great platform with an easy to use interface.

“We’re even set to offer real estate agencies online profiles and tools to better support their agents. And we’ll be opening the platform to additional revenue streams based on subscription memberships down the track.” added Kim.

Venn Korea’s management team has the perfect combination of industry expertise, entrepreneurial thinking, and experienced business management.

David Kim has a track record of success in the real estate industry here in New Zealand as well as in Seoul, South Korea. His commercial understanding of the industry, as well as industry relationships, span Asia Pacific thanks to his 4.5 years of experience gained at a top global commercial real-estate firm. David has been instrumental in attracting and onboarding strategic partners by leveraging those relationships.

Shaan Joshi, Founder and Director of Venn Korea, has been involved in a variety of different businesses specialising in marketing, strategy and innovation. He has worked in investment and consultancy firms, both in the United States and New Zealand. Shaan’s swift execution has been the driving force behind turning what was merely an ‘idea’ into ‘reality’ and was instrumental in delivering the soft launch.

“When I looked at the Korean commercial real estate sites I couldn’t believe it. They were disjointed, clunky and hard to use. I knew instantly we could do better, and that we’d be able to create a best in class platform based on industry needs and eliminating pain points. Feedback from commercial real estate agents is proving it,” said Joshi.

Sandy Moore, non-executive Director, Venn Korea sits on the board and completes the leadership team. His work and reputation within New Zealand’s advertising sector is well known and highly respected. He brings long proven skills in business management, improving company performance and growth, and fiscal responsibility and governance to the Venn team.

“The Venn Korea project is a very unique opportunity. I’m confident that commercial real-estate operators will quickly see the value of Venn’s new product offering and quickly come onboard,” says Sandy Moore.

The offer is an opportunity for investors to gain early exposure to a company that will operate on a proven business model. It has an attractive valuation and forecasts show profitability as early as 2018. The first closing date is set for 27 October 2016.

ENDS

About Venn Korea
Forged in New Zealand, Venn Korea is set to become South Korea’s premier hub for commercial real estate focusing on office, retail and industrial space. The company’s website and mobile platform provides a sophisticated, easy to use online real estate search experience with an up to date, comprehensive list of commercial properties throughout South Korea.

About AlphaCrowd
AlphaCrowd is the equity crowdfunding platform for digital and technology businesses. We believe that Kiwi developers, engineers, inventors, scientists and visionaries should be supported locally in their global ambitions. Our industry focus makes us the premier crowdfunding platform for serious technology investors.

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