Whipsaw
Issue 17 - January 29th, 2021
This week in the financial markets was in one word: insane. Gamestop, Robinhood, trade blocking by major platforms, Reddit warriors getting their name along side some of the biggest hedge funds in the world, and #Bitcoin surged overnight because Elon added #bitcoin to his Twitter bio.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from some people I follow on Twitter on the week's events:
"Reminder that short-and-distort sellers don’t build anything. Companies build things. The people in them build things." - Tobi Lutke, Shopify CEO
"Maybe the free market will solve the problem, in the form of a brokerage that will take Robinhood's users by letting them make the trades Robinhood won't." - Paul Graham
"I love how @RobinhoodApp is like we’ll go back to normal tomorrow. What changed? Oh right? They crashed the market and let the hedge funds get out. Now suddenly there are no issues with it." - Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports
"The exodus has begun from Wall Street into #Bitcoin and crypto" - Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini
Now back to our regularly scheduled ResiRe programming below! Have a good weekend.
Newsworthy Links To Share
Darwin Homes, based in Austin,TX, announces a $15 million financing round to expand into new markets. The company provides full-service property management for the owners of single-family rental homes that's powered by a proprietary software platform called Origin. The institutional single-family rental industry, founded out of the Great Recession, sprang into existence because innovators like the Blackstone-launched Invitation Homes developed the technology and ground operations to manage renters in their own houses across disparate geographies. Read more HERE.
Zillow is upping its fees for agents and will start charging them to post rental listings.Starting this month, rental listings cost $9.99 per week. The move comes amid heightened competition for rental listings from the likes of Zumper, CoStar and Rent.com. In a statement, Zillow said fees for listings help improve data accuracy. But there are likely other reasons. “They have a gazillion consumers looking at rentals on their site,” said Victor Lund, a partner at WAV Group, “They want to monetize that.” Read more HERE.
Congrats to my friend Andrew Luong and the Doorvest team on their recent fundraise! Doorvest is building a single family rental platform to give everyday investors a stress-free way to invest in rental properties. They announced a $2.5 million seed round this week backed by Mucker Capital out of Los Angeles. Learn more HERE.
The world's first all-electric vertical takeoff passenger jet may start operations from boutique hubs across Florida in coming years. German startup Lilium struck a deal to build a network of at least 10 vertiports with Ferrovial. Lilium, which is developing a five-seat air taxi, will serve Florida's major population centers, including Miami and Tampa. Watch the aircraft takeoff HERE!
Loanpal, a lender for residential solar installations, raised $800 million as interest in climate change becomes a focus of the new administration. From the Loanpal website, "We provide friendly financing options for those who dream of living a more sustainable lifestyle and want to save money using modern technology. Our collective mission is to make a positive impact on the planet, build lasting relationships with our valued partners and customers, and deliver a tech-enabled financing experience that is simple, fast, and frictionless." Visit their website HERE.
Compass files countersuit against industry titan Realogy. Roughly 18 months after Realogy initially sued rival brokerage Compass, the latter is hitting back with a counter lawsuit, alleging that Realogy is “unable to compete with Compass in the marketplace,” and “its affiliated entities instead have sought to stop the bleeding by any means necessary — including lying, stealing, and cheating.” Read more HERE.