Abu Dhabi VC platform buys into US real estate investment firm

The investment comes after Cadre has raised capital from investors including Khosla Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Ford Foundation, General Catalyst and others.

DisruptAD’s investment is from the Ghadan Ventures fund, which aims to support promising start-ups from around the globe to expand their footprint to Abu Dhabi and across the broader region.

As part of the partnership, Cadre will be expanding its corporate footprint to Abu Dhabi, and will work closely with DisruptAD to expand access for investors in the region to commercial real estate in the United States, and vice versa.

This partnership follows the recent announcement of the Cadre Direct Access Fund, which offers individuals a curated portfolio of commercial assets with lower minimums, lower fees, better underwriting, and a potential for liquidity that was never available to individual investors, a statement said.

It added that the Cadre Direct Access Fund is also designed to accommodate investors in regions outside the United States, and DisruptAD’s investment will enable Cadre to expand its reach to individual investors in international markets.

Ryan Williams, Cadre’s co-founder and CEO, said: “We’re grateful to DisruptAD for their partnership and support as we continue to grow our company… We also see enormous potential in providing access to more investors everywhere, and this partnership is a big step forward on that journey.” 

Mayank Singhal, head of Venture Capital and Technology at ADQ, added: “We are pleased to back Ryan’s vision to democratise global access to real estate investing… We are excited for Abu Dhabi to be Cadre’s first international market and look forward to supporting the company as it provides investors in our region with access to commercial real estate assets in the United States.”

Since inception, Cadre has closed more $3 billion in real estate transactions, resulting in the return of more than $168 million of capital to investors.

The Ghadan Ventures Fund is an AED535 million fund under the Ghadan 21 program and is managed by DisruptAD. It is part of DisruptAD’s broader mission to support and nurture 1,000 start-ups over the next five years. 

DisruptAD is also responsible for the Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) Fund, the AED1.1 billion venture fund that focuses on Indian and South East Asian start-ups.