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DS News February 2020

DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.

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91 91 INVESTMENT PROPERTY PRESERVATION TECH LAUDAN CLOSES PROPERTY PRESERVATION BUSINESS, SHIFTING FOCUS TO INSPECTIONS Laudan Properties announced that it will be closing its property preservation business and shifting its focus onto its property inspection division, Laudan Inspection Services (LIS). Laudan initially divided its property preservation sector from its inspections business in September 2019, then announcing the formation of Laudan Inspection Services. Brian Potasiewicz, SVP & General Manager of Laudan Properties and LIS, told DS News exclusively, "Laudan Inspection Services has seen considerable growth through 2019. We made the decision to focus on that growth through 2020 by stepping back from preservation and REO work. We're excited about our new focus and looking forward to a lucrative future for Laudan Inspection Services." As Laudan now repositions itself for future growth, Donn Wodicka, LIS Field Director, said in a statement, "LIS continues to achieve great things as there is a strong interest for on- time, high-quality inspections. We are willing to develop customized inspection products to meet our customers' specific needs, and that sets us apart." Laudan Properties was originally founded in 2008, by entrepreneur Kevin Weidinger, starting as a single-state provider and then expanding to a national footprint over the intervening years. e company's inspection services side offers bankruptcy inspections, borrower interviews, foreclosure & occupancy inspections, insurance loss inspections, natural disaster inspections, quality control inspections, rush service sale date inspections, and other services. ROOFSTOCK CLOSES 50M EQUITY ROUND Roofstock has announced that it has closed on a $50 million Series D equity round. SVB Capital led the financing, leading a syndicate comprised of several new investors including Citi Ventures, Fort Ross Ventures, and 7 Global Capital as well as prior round lead investors Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Canvas Ventures. is latest round brings the total amount of equity raised to $133 million. According to Roofstock, the new funding will support the company's continued growth, including investment in its data science, product and engineering capabilities, expanding its retail supply and distribution network, and rolling out Roofstock Platform Services, the company's latest service which lets institutional investors build their own tailored portfolios of single-family rental homes. "Roofstock is in the vanguard of the rapidly-growing proptech space," said Sulu Mamdani, Managing Partner of SVB Capital. "As startups continue to broaden access to financial services, we see real estate as an incredibly attractive asset class for retail investors looking to go beyond the typical stock and bond portfolio." SVB Capital, a division of SVB Financial Group, was selected to lead the round in part due to its interest in the promise of Roofstock One. Founded in 2015, Roofstock has facilitated more than $2 billion in transaction volume through its marketplace to date, providing "all of the resources for investors to buy, own, and sell real estate online, including data analytics, property management oversight, and other tools." "Roofstock makes it easy for anyone, no matter where they live, to add real estate to their investing strategy, with minimal overhead and no prior knowledge needed," said Gary Beasley, CEO and Co-Founder of Roofstock. "is funding is a validation of our work to lower the barriers to entry and level the playing field for real estate investing. Roofstock gives individual investors the same level of information, access, and operational support that used to be available only for large institutions." Follow Us At: @DSNewsDaily Journal

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