Helu Capital raises 3X more equity with Agora’s intuitive platform and personalized service

Founded in 2020, Helu Capital is a vertically integrated real estate investment and property management firm.

Its principles have over 30 years of success in owning and managing multi-family communities nationwide.

Helu has developed over 7,000 units and managed over 30,000 more. The firm considers itself a family business, and the team prides itself on the personal attention and care they give each asset as owner-operators.

As Chief Operating Officer Taylor Bassett puts it:

“We’re personally invested in all of our assets. We care that it’s our money — as well as our friends’ and family’s — so we give a lot more attention and detail to our investments than other owner-operators would.”

While Helu is thriving now, it struggled through some operational growing pains after its founding.

Helu Capital’s challenges: disorganized workflows and insufficient software guidance

In an effort to streamline operations and create more organized workflows, Helu tried multiple real estate management software solutions.

However, they consistently found that the solutions lacked essential functionality, and customer support didn’t seem interested in working with them to discover or create optimal outcomes.

Bassett notes:

“We tried a few different programs and platforms — one for several months beyond the tutorial phase. It just wasn’t quite cutting it. We didn’t feel that we had the customer service that we needed.”

Additionally, Helu aspired to display the professionalism and technological capabilities of larger firms in its investor interactions — all while maintaining its lean headcount.

Other platforms couldn’t help Helu produce this level of professionalism, most notably with the subscription process. “Typically, when we syndicate and raise equity for a deal, we send out an investor questionnaire. Investors fill it out — oftentimes through an online notary, sign the documents, and then invest. That’s a complicated process to manage through email, Google Sheets, and DocuSign. It quickly got out of hand.”

How Agora gives Helu Capital the tools to exceed investors’ expectations

Immediately after starting with Agora, Helu noticed a stark improvement in efficiency, investment processes, and organization.

Agora’s experts closely guided Helu on how to best utilize the investment management software, including how to leverage customized Investor Portal in their subscription process.

“With Agora, we send out the subscription documents directly from the platform. Investors stay within the platform to sign everything and fill out their questionnaires. Then the final copy is saved right there inside their investor portal. They can log in and see it at any time for all of their deals. There’s no managing files. They’re named according to the investor and the deal. It’s all organized into one place where the investor remembers where it is. And we know right where it is as well.”

In addition to the smoother subscription process, Helu finds its communication with investors is more effective with Agora. Bassett explains:

“With Agora, we communicate with all of our investors at the same time, very seamlessly. Our investors can log in to the Investor Portal and see pictures, owner updates, K-1s during tax season – all in one convenient portal.”

Bassett adds, “We’ve had investors say, specifically, that they find our process is much more professional than other firms they’ve invested with.”

As opposed to a chaotic process of sending and fielding many individual emails, Agora streamlines communication and gives investors all the information they want right at their fingertips. This efficiency means Helu spends 50% less time on their subscription process than before.

Agora’s industry-tailored solution and white-glove service makes a difference for Helu Capital

Agora was founded by real estate professionals with the mission to design a comprehensive all-in-one investment management software to solve real-world problems real estate professionals face.

“Several principles at Agora are real estate owner-operators, just like us, Bassett explains. “So they understand the issues we face when fundraising and interacting with investors, and they solve the problems for us because they’ve been in our shoes.”

That expertise, combined with Agora’s white-glove service, proved to be the key that unlocked substantial growth for Helu.

Basset added:

“Immediately after starting to use Agora, we tripled the amount of equity we were able to attract in the next two quarters compared to the previous two. And because of that, we were able to do more deals, spend more time managing our assets, and spend less time working directly with investors.”

Contact the Agora team to learn more about how Agora’s investment management solution can transform your real estate business.