This week was somewhat quiet. News was led by the disappointing launch of a new music royalty platform. It also saw the launch of new features on Lofty and Royalty Exchange, milestones and recognition for some platforms, and other small news.
JKBX
JKBX, a brand new music royalty investing platform, launched this week.
The platform is similar to SongVest. They have a variety of offerings available to browse and reserve shares. At a later point in time they intend to move forward with SEC-qualified fractional investments.
The main difference is in their strategy. JKBX is focused around notable songs and famous musicians. For example, there are offerings for Adele’s “Rumor Has It” and Beyoncé’s “Halo.”
While this isn’t an issue on its own, it becomes one when we look at the pricing of the offerings. JKBX used a third-party company to price the offerings. The result is that all 24 of the initial offerings have a target yield of 3.34%.
Perhaps in a time of 0% interest rates you could maybe justify some allocation to such a low yielding investment. However, that’s not the world we live in. The yield on the 30 year treasury is just shy of 4.4%. That’s both higher and a whole lot more certain than anything you’ll get from JKBX.
If you really want to make fractional investments into more “mainstream” songs, SongVest currently has a VIP auction for Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj’s “Swish Swish” which looks much more reasonably priced.
Royalty Exchange
In an email to investors, RoyaltyExchange announced that they were testing an interesting new feature – the ability to make bids for part of an asset. It is currently live on their offering for Standardized Testing Royalties.
Given how pricey individual assets on the platform can be, this could be the first step in making their offerings more accessible.
There is a button to “Buy a portion of this royalty stream.” If you click it, another dialog pops up that allows you to specify the percentage you want to purchase, the price, and any comments.
FranShares
FranShares received further acceptance into the franchising industry this week.
First, they announced on X that they had joined the International Franchise Association. This should further legitimize the company as a viable partner for aspiring franchise brands and operators.
Second, they also announced that their CEO has received the “Certified Franchise Executive” designation. The company refers to this as the “highest recognition” available in franchising.
Assuming that’s not an exaggeration, it seems like FranShares is being very heartily embraced by the franchising industry. That should position the company well for being able to create future offerings with the top franchise brands.
Lofty
Lofty announced an interesting expansion to their marketplace in a new blog post. Property owners can now sell a portion of their equity on Lofty. Their recent Atlanta vacation rental offering was one of the first deals to use this structure.
According to the company, this new feature benefits both buyers and sellers.
Buyers on Lofty have their capital go to work more quickly, skipping the traditional closing process. They also believe that a co-ownership model with an owner that knows the property is a boon for investors.
For sellers, they get access to capital without having to sell the whole property or take on debt, and without a closing process.
The blog post has more details on this new feature and its potential benefits.
Arrived
Arrived Homes hit a new milestone. The company announced on X that they had completed the launch of their 300th fractional real estate property.
Of the fractional real estate platforms we have covered so far, Arrived is the most well-funded and leads the way with the number of offerings and consistency of experience. That’s surely a part of how they’ve built an active community of investors that allows them to quickly sell out shares of their new listings.
Republic
Republic became the latest equity crowdfunding platform to launch a podcast. In their announcement on X, they indicated the podcast would be “for founders, builders and creators!”
StartEngine
StartEngine Private has announced their latest offering. Accredited investors can now reserve shares in Airtable with a $5000 minimum investment.
