September 5, 2023: Maybe you can buy a house...

Learn more about Lotly from their CEO Martyna Gatkiewicz

What is Lotly?

Lotly is a real estate investment company that focuses on shared equity. They enable investors of all backgrounds to participate in their retail fund, which in turn aids in financing down payments for potential homeowners in exchange for a share of the home's equity. This approach offers investors diversification in co-owned properties without the typical hassles of traditional real estate investing, such as managing mortgages, rent collection, maintenance, and taxes.

Additionally, Lotly's model provides a sense of fulfillment by assisting individuals in achieving homeownership dreams faster while concurrently building wealth for all parties involved.

What was the inspiration behind it?

The inspiration behind launching Lotly stemmed from the recognition of Toronto's housing crisis, where there was a lack of a mutually beneficial solution for both investors and homebuyers. Young Canadians, in particular, faced challenges due to the high cost of saving for a down payment, unless they had substantial parental assistance. On the other hand, investors encountered the burdensome responsibilities of property management as landlords. In response, the founders of Lotly aimed to find a middle ground that unites all parties rather than pitting them against each other, thus giving rise to the idea of Lotly.

How has it been received?

Incredibly well it seems.

Lotly has experienced remarkable demand from homebuyers and investors alike. Homebuyers are eager to join due to the evident appeal of homeownership. Investors are showing enthusiasm for various reasons, including their trust in Lotly's projected returns (15% IRR) driven by macroeconomic factors influencing the Toronto housing market. Additionally, some investors appreciate the hands-off approach offered by Lotly's fund. Overall, the prevailing sentiment is that Lotly is innovative, offering a unique opportunity for equity investment in single-family homes, which was previously unavailable without purchasing the entire property.

How did you know you were ready to start a company?

The desire to start a company has been present since my second year of university, driven by a passion for creativity and the excitement of building something new. However, right after graduation, the feeling of readiness was lacking. After gaining valuable experience in product development, business development, and judgment through a few years of work, the time finally felt right to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

What has been the hardest part so far?

Lotly operates as a marketplace connecting investors and homebuyers. The main challenge has been maintaining a balance between attracting buyers and securing investor capital. However, this challenge is gradually becoming easier to manage as the company refines its acquisition strategies for both sides of the marketplace.

What has been the best surprise so far?

Lotly prioritizes delivering the highest returns to its investors and homeowners as its primary goal. However, the company has also been pleasantly surprised by the number of investors who express their satisfaction in contributing to someone's journey into homeownership.

Labour day weekend just is over which marks the end of summer for many people and the start of the last push to hit 2023 goals.

So far, it has been a mixed year for Canadian tech with less funding, layoffs, and few acquisitions.

As expected, the last two weeks of August were quiet, so we thought we would list the questions we had for the rest of the year.

Are we now past the current AI hype peak? What are the implications either way?

ChatGPT launched to the world on November 30, 2022.

While Generative AI was already starting to get hot, this was the day that generative AI was declared the next platform and a new AI hype cycle was born. Larger and larger rounds and valuations were announced, every large enterprise had to have an AI strategy and the media and experts started to debate the long-term world implications.

While we believe generative AI will change everything, it will most likely take longer than expected.

Over the last couple months, it feels like the hype has died down and the skeptics have started questioning everything. Is this just a summer slow down or is generative AI now passe for investors, founders and customers?

We will know more by the start of 2024.

How do Canadian politics impact the Canadian tech ecosystem's ability to grow?

Over the last decade, the Canadian tech ecosystem has benefited from the combination of turmoil south of the border and a surprisingly beneficial, but not perfect, approach to immigration, innovation, and diplomacy. These policies made it easier to recruit talent, obtain non-dilutive and dilutive financing, and scale businesses and sales globally.

Economic headwinds, protectionism, and a changing political atmosphere may result in several headwinds:

• New regulations and mergers feel like they will reinforce the oligopolistic status quo and hurt innovation. One recent example, Bill C-18, designed to protect revenues of incumbent media companies has resulted in deteriorated services but also prevented the roll-out of new technology like Google's Bard in Canada.

• The full-blown housing crisis has become a political hot button and may impact the attitude towards immigrants and high-income earners.

• Global politics is impacting relationships between China and other emerging markets which may impact collaboration on research and impede start-up access to markets.

Which start-ups will emerge as leaders in this new environment?

The funding environment changed about 18 months ago and it fundamentally changed how start-up built their business.

We went from growth at all costs to growth with margins that make sense. This forced many of the leading companies in the ecosystem to significantly change strategies. We have seen this play out at Shopify as they are publicly listed. They are more focused (e.g. only bits no atoms anymore), more flexible (they just partnered with Amazon, and leaner company than they were in 2021.

The question is which start-ups will re-emerge as community leaders or emerge from the new crop of startups as leaders. Who are the new rocket ships?

It feels like we are at the point of the cycle where this should become clear.

Hop into our spaceship and join us for an out-of-this-world party!

We're celebrating the launch of A Billion Dreams, a non-profit organization on a mission to conduct biomedical experiments in Space.

As part of our fundraising, we are sending your names and the names of your loved ones to space to orbit Earth for years to come! Join the fun at our launch party on Sept 14th!

P.S. We're looking for ambitious partners so feel free to get in touch

All the details for the next event from QueerTech

Check out the newest learning community, built to empower today’s leaders

Generative AI applications: An investment framework

ChatGPT’s impact on the legal industry explained

Want to showcase your company, events, and opportunities to 60,000+ subscribers across the Canadian Tech Eco-system? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more