In an era marked by a significant shortfall in the US housing market, Austin-based Cedar is stepping up to tackle this ongoing challenge with innovative software. After more than a decade of under-building relative to population growth and demand, the US housing market faces a shortage of 6.5 million homes. Cedar's mission is to empower real estate developers and professionals to unlock the untapped potential of urban infill properties.
Breaking news – Cedar has successfully raised $3 million in seed funding, spearheaded by Caffeinated Capital, a renowned name in venture capital famous for supporting CIONIC and Capchase. The funding round also drew participation from other significant investors such as Tishman Speyer Ventures, Maria Davidson, David Rubenstein through Shorewind Capital, and Alumni Ventures. This achievement comes on the heels of previous support from global venture capital firm Antler during Cedar's pre-seed round.
At present, Cedar's reach extends across Austin, but the company is poised for expansion, with plans to establish a presence in several major American cities within the next 12-18 months. This funding round aims to enable real estate developers to construct denser, more affordable urban environments, addressing one of the most pressing issues in the real estate market.
Founded in 2022 by Kyle Vansice, Nate Peters, and Rahul Attraya in Austin, Texas, Cedar seeks to revolutionize the real estate market by addressing an inherent inefficiency in the current development process. Acquiring, designing, and permitting a housing project often consumes more time than the construction phase itself. This is due to the slow, consultant-driven, and regulation-heavy nature of real estate development projects. While housing comprises approximately 80% of cities, there's a notable absence of software to guide developers in understanding where and what they can construct within a city.
Cedar's innovative platform leverages generative algorithms and a mix of public and proprietary data to swiftly generate diverse building designs. It accurately predicts the development yield of any city parcel, transforming intricate land development regulations into feasible development scenarios that maximize a property's financial potential.
Cedar streamlines the typically fragmented process of value creation, which typically requires months of consultant work and adds substantial costs to each development project.
It aims to address the complexities of urban development that have pushed builders to construct homes further from city centers, exacerbating the supply-demand imbalance responsible for the affordability crisis.
Kyle Vansice, co-founder of Cedar, emphasized the critical importance of not just building more homes but also constructing them in the right locations, closer to cultural amenities and workplaces, where people wish to live.
Nate Peters, another co-founder of Cedar, highlighted the company's fresh vision for housing development and design for the future. He emphasized the role of Cedar in connecting local zoning and land development regulations with a national standard for infill housing and urban density.
Rahul Attraya, co-founder of Cedar, emphasized the significance of smaller, non-institutional "missing middle" projects in creating economically and environmentally sustainable density in cities, ensuring a breadth of affordable housing options.
Varun Gupta, a partner at Caffeinated Capital, expressed his belief in Cedar's potential to drive significant economic value for developers, brokers, states, municipalities, and other stakeholders, thereby ushering in a new era of municipal development.
Tyler Norwood, General Partner US at Antler, one of Cedar's early investors, commended the Cedar team's ambition and determination. He highlighted the potential for Cedar to reshape the future of urban infill development.
Cedar's journey is poised to reshape urban development, a transformative journey that begins right in Austin, Texas, and holds promise for cities nationwide.
