Fintech Startup Index Industries Raises $50M in Seed Funding

Index Industries, a NYC-based provider of technology and infrastructure that turns U.S. housing into an investable asset class, has raised $50 million in a seed funding round.

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Polychain Capital, Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, and other institutional investors.

The company will use the funding to build its technology platform and supporting infrastructure, with the aim of making the US housing market more accessible to investors.

What is Index Industries?

Index Industries is building a platform that connects the US housing market with financial products. It combines a daily-reporting housing index, tokenization technology, and real estate and capital markets services to help third parties create housing-linked investment products.

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Its first offering is the US Home Price Index (USHP Index), a proprietary benchmark designed to track US home prices. The index combines data from major housing indices into a single national measure and is calculated daily.

The company aims to make housing-market information easier to access and support research, reporting, portfolio monitoring and new investment products linked to home prices.

Its first investment product, USHP, will be based on the index and issued by USHP Limited, a British Virgin Islands company.

How Much Funding Has Index Industries Raised?

Index Industries has raised $50 million in its seed funding round. The company has not disclosed its total funding raised or details of previous investment rounds.

Who Invested in Index Industries Seed Round?

The $50 million seed round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Other participating investor's included:

• Polychain Capital
• Galaxy Ventures
• Wintermute Ventures
• Other institutional investors

Why the Funding Matters

Index Industries will use the funding to develop its technology platform and infrastructure.

The company is targeting a gap in financial markets. Although US housing represents a market valued at $55 trillion, broad investment exposure to home prices has remained difficult to access through traditional financial products.

By combining housing data, tokenization and financial market services, Index Industries aims to support the creation of investment products linked to the housing market.

Who founded Index Industries?

Index Industries was founded by Josh Rosenthal and Brian Hardecker. The company is based in New York City.

"Indexing is one of the most important and least celebrated innovations in modern finance. It reduces the expertise and cost barriers to investing in an entire market, which is what U.S. housing needs," said Josh Rosenthal, co-founder & CEO of Index Industries. "I've spent my career looking for industry-shaping financial technology, and Index Industries is exactly that.

"U.S. housing is a massive market. It accounts for roughly a quarter of the aggregate value of the U.S. economy, yet it draws far less attention because there haven't been accessible ways to take a position in it," said Brian Hardecker, co-founder and chairman of Index Industries and CEO of Longmark Group. "Housing is uniquely inflation-protected, uncorrelated to other asset classes, and has arguably been one of the most stable paths to wealth accumulation.

Market and Business Growth

Index Industries is developing its first product around the US Home Price Index, which brings data from major housing indices into one daily measure.

The benchmark is designed to provide a continuous view of US home prices and support housing-market research, reporting and investment monitoring.

The company also plans to use tokenization technology to support third-party financial products linked to housing. Its first investment product, USHP, will be built on the platform and based on the USHP Index.

What Happens Next?

Index Industries will focus on building its technology platform and infrastructure.

The company plans to use its housing index and tokenization capabilities to support the development of housing-linked investment products, starting with USHP.

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