Cadre eyes Google, Facebook employees in bid for customers

Fresh off a partnership deal with Goldman Sachs, the Kushner-backed real estate investment startup Cadre could soon turn to Google and Facebook employees in its hunt for customers.

“There’s also a really exciting opportunity in the technology space itself with companies like Google and Facebook,” Cadre’s CEO Ryan Williams said at CB Insights’ Future of Fintech conference Thursday. “We think there could be an opportunity marketing private products to their employees.” Williams added that he could also see Cadre partnering with more banks and with investment firms like Betterment.

In January, the company announced a deal with Goldman Sachs that allows the bank’s wealth management clients to invest in Cadre’s real estate offerings. At the time, the bank’s clients had already committed $250 million, Cadre said.

Founded in 2014 by Blackstone Group alum Williams and Jared and Joshua Kushner, Cadre invests in commercial properties and then makes stakes available to accredited investors via its online platform. Last year, the company raised $65 million in a venture funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Williams said Cadre has also been talking to real estate investment firms about raising money through its platform, and singled out SL Green Realty as a potential partner. “We are now in the process of thinking about supply-side partnerships that are comparable (to the Goldman Sachs deal) where you go to large owners of real estate,” Williams said. “For instance, SL Green, one of our investors, biggest office landlord in New York [City], we’ve discussed partnerships on that front with them.”

SL Green invested in Cadre’s $18.3 million Series A round in 2015.