Lofty

Lofty (Lofty AI, Inc.) operates an online marketplace for fractional ownership of U.S. real estate. Each property is acquired by a property-specific Wyoming LLC whose deed is transferred into the entity, and equity in that LLC is issued as tokens on the Algorand blockchain (Algorand Standard Assets). Buyers purchase these tokens on Lofty's marketplace, typically at share prices the company describes as around $50 or less, and thereby become fractional members of the property LLC with corresponding voting rights; the company describes the LLCs as algorithmically managed through smart contracts, with one token equal to one vote and a 60% supermajority required to pass management decisions such as handling repairs, delinquent tenants, or the sale of the underlying property.

Rental income is distributed daily rather than monthly, paid in USD or USDC on Algorand, and holders can reinvest to compound. There is no lock-up period: shares can be resold on a secondary market that combines an order book with an automated market maker (described as a Proactive Market Maker) whose per-property liquidity pools are funded by users staking USDC for yield. Listed inventory has spanned single-family long-term rentals, rent-to-own homes, short-term/Airbnb rentals, a vacation cabin, commercial strip malls, land parcels, HELOC-style structures on owner-occupied homes, and multi-property packages. Sellers can list a property and fractionalize as much or as little of their equity as they wish, starting at around 10%.

Alongside the retail marketplace, Lofty operates a separate accredited-investor channel, Lofty Ventures Syndicate, LP, a Delaware series limited partnership whose individual series file Form D under Rule 506(b) and claim Section 3(c)(1) exclusion, with a stated $1,000 minimum at the syndicate level. Lofty is a Y Combinator company (Summer 2019 batch).

Founding story

Jerry Chu, a USC alumnus and former Barclays risk management analyst who taught himself full-stack development, is co-founder and CEO; Max Ball is co-founder. The stated premise is that rising down payments, inflexible financing terms and higher property prices have priced most people out of real estate ownership, so fractional, tradable ownership units can open the asset class to smaller investors.

Business model

Lofty is a marketplace intermediary rather than a fund manager or property manager. According to the company's YC launch material, it does not custody user funds or assets and does not charge management fees or take a share of rental earnings; transactions settle peer-to-peer via blockchain smart contracts. Revenue comes from transaction fees on marketplace trades. A parallel accredited-investor syndicate product raises capital through Reg D 506(b) series funds, with fee examples including a one-time administrative fee on a series raise.

Transaction fees on marketplace trades. Lofty's YC launch post describes a 6% transaction fee split evenly between buyer and seller (3% each). A 2026 third-party review reports current pricing of 2.5% to buy and 3% to sell on limit orders, plus an additional 2.5% per side on market orders that execute instantly against Lofty's automated market maker. On the accredited side, a recent series fund filing shows an $8,000 one-time admin fee on an $80,000 raise.

Traction

Company-reported and unaudited figures as of 2026 include more than 40,000 investors, over $100M total invested through the platform, more than $5.2M in cumulative rental income distributed, a 9.2% stated average rental yield across marketplace properties, and 111 properties visible on the marketplace as of May 2026 across roughly 40 U.S. markets. The YC launch post cites over 170 properties tokenized to date, individual user investments ranging from $50 to over $2,000,000, and an average Google review rating of 4.7. A third-party review states Lofty reached profitability on approximately $1.5M of 2024 revenue with about 16 employees; a private-market data profile lists 18 employees. At least 13 accredited series funds had been filed as of April 8, 2026.

Latest developments

As of 2026, Lofty is reported as the remaining U.S.-retail tokenized real estate platform of its cohort, having filed a new Form D with the SEC on April 8, 2026 for the ZE-0303 Fund I series, which raised $80,000 from 16 investors. Cumulative company-reported figures stand at $100M+ invested, 40,000+ investors and $5.2M+ distributed. A private-market data profile lists a VC round dated January 30, 2024 as the most recent funding event.