[Natgeda Remy\NYCE Cos\Wealthlab.co]
Remy: “We want to create a Black micro-economy within the ecosystem of real estate…Our aim is to help 100,000 people become first-time investors, and eventually millionaires in their own right.”
Photo: Natgeda Remy
“Mompreneur” Natgenda Remy is doing her part in trying to close the racial wealth gap.
Some grim stats: according to government data, Black women with college degrees have half the net worth of white women who didn’t graduate high school.
Only 1% of venture capital is deployed to female founders of color. Even worse, collectively, at the rate things are going now, Black wealth will drop to $0 by 2053.
This is why Natgeda Remy, a Haitian-American mompreneur, decided to do something about it, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
“Because of systemic conditions, you find our community generally—and women specifically—being stuck on the outside of opportunity,” says Remy, Chief Partnership Officer of NYCE Cos. and sister company wealthlab.co.
Last month, Remy and her team quietly launched a $50 million Reg. A IPO—backed by $10 million from the founding team—designed to create a wealth-building vehicle for urban Millennials.
The NYCE IPO has secured nearly $300,000 in investments since its stealth launch, with no promotion behind it. “It’s all through our online content and word of mouth,” says Remy.
Signed into effect by President Obama in 2012, the JOBS Act allowed companies to offer access to non-accredited investors (investors with a net worth under $1 million) in their companies through Reg. A public offering. Reg. A is an exemption from registration requirements—instituted by the Securities Act—that applies to public offerings of securities that do not exceed $50 million in any one-year period.
With $57 million in real estate under development, investors get direct ownership in high-level luxury real estate—as well as the underlying technology—at $500 per share.
“That’s why we’re building the community,” says Remy. “Our mission is to help 100,000 people of color become millionaires and that way help narrow the wealth gap.”
Typically, when funds raise money, there are no existing assets in the fund until the money’s raised; that’s where the fundraising comes in, to fund acquisitions.
Remy and her team took another, more traditional REIT (real estate investment trust) approach, self-funding the entire portfolio to date.
“What makes ours a little different is that we assumed all of the capital risk upfront, from land acquisition, building the properties, securing financing, and so forth,” says Remy.
Co-founded by $324 million FC Barcelona soccer star Martin Braithwaite and real estate developer Philip Michael, the NYCE portfolio includes a 100-unit AI-powered luxury complex by Temple University and the first Black-owned high rise in Jersey City.
On the community side, the NYCE universe consists of events and education through wealthlab and its monthly event series #openstage, then access through its IPO.
“As we like to say, we want to create a Black micro-economy within the ecosystem of real estate,” says Remy.
Partnering with the Black Women Talk Tech conference, Remy’s helped Black founders get a voice while helping the founding team bring in close to $1 million in revenue in the past year.
Since April, Remy’s team amassed a 30K Instagram following, putting out financial content and a nightly IG Live show Remy produces, hosted by co-founder Philip Michael.
“Again, our aim is to help 100,000 people become first-time investors, and eventually millionaires in their own right,” she says. “If it’s with us, great. If not, as long as they start—that’s what matters.”
