Lucas McEntee, CEO and founder of Riverstone Partners (formerly SaleFunder), says the company’s evolution made a rebrand inevitable. While SaleFunder was known in the market for funding solutions, he says the business has grown well beyond that original identity.
“SaleFunder is relatively well known within real estate, with our new services it made sense to operate under an umbrella brand,” Mr McEntee says.
Riverstone Partners now offers agents Sale Funder, Commission Funder, Agency Sign, Agency Settlements, Agency Supply Pay and Agency AML.
The shift was also driven by agent feedback.
“Agents were telling us about the services they were paying for that they didn’t need or didn’t like,” he says.
“They felt encumbered to certain providers; they were looking for a decent independent in the market to help with process and compliance.”
A move away from subscriptions
The expanded structure is built around reducing overheads and replacing monthly subscription fees with a per-listing or per-settlement model.
“A lot of proptech businesses have subscription models,” Mr McEntee says. “I don’t think that’s a good way to deal with your customer.
“Being all about the agent, we had to align our services to their business model”
Riverstone’s approach is simple.
“We don’t invoice. Everything’s paid for at settlement. There’s no monthly subscription fees. There’s no per agency fee. It’s just literally per listing.”
Why Agency Settlements is the centrepiece
While Riverstone Partners now offers a broad suite of services, Mr McEntee says Agency Settlements is the product that will have the most impact.
“Agency Settlements is such a massive leap forward for the industry, and there are so many benefits that come off the back of that,” he says.
“Agents can remove the need to run a trust sales account. They get an AML consumable solution included. They can get commission at exchange if they take Agency Settlements. It all pins off the back of that product.”
He also believes the shift towards outsourced settlement handling will accelerate.
“This will be the normal settlement process within the next few years,” he says. “We help reduce admin from $800-$1000 per listing down to a few hundred dollars.”
With the rebrand finalised and the new structure in place, Mr McEntee says the company is entering a new phase.
“Our future marketing to the real estate industry is all about the agent, focusing on the agent drives our innovation and long term loyalty” he says.
CommissionFunder: lower cost and no property security
CommissionFunder remains an important part of the Riverstone Partners offering, and Mr McEntee says it now sits alongside Agency Settlements to give principals a more accessible source of short-term cashflow.
“Commission Funder, of course, is enabling the funding of commission to be paid earlier rather than at settlement,” he says.
Pricing is where he sees the starkest difference: “We can offer Agents commission in exchange for a fee of 1% per thirty days,” he says.
“Our competitors are charging 5%. They’re charging 60% to 70% per annum, and we’re charging 12%.”
He believes many principals who turn to high-cost funding do so out of necessity rather than poor management.
“You might be starting your business. You might have had a cash flow problem. You don’t want to put your house up, but think you’ve got no choice.
For Mr McEntee, this is the pressure point he is most determined to ease.
“Banks usually require property security. I know how hard it is for a mum and dad to sit down and have that conversation about. Commission funder provides bank finance rates without having to use the family home as security”
