Latest news with #Landa
TechCrunch
23-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Landa promised real estate investing for $5. Now it's gone dark.
The idea of becoming a real estate investor for as little as $5 may seem too good to be true. And for many users of Landa, a proptech company that promised just that — it has been. Landa emerged from stealth in August 2022, announcing a total of $33 million in funding and a pledge to help everyday Americans access residential real estate investment through fractional shares. CEO Yishai Cohen and former CTO Amit Assaraf founded Landa in 2019 in an effort to make real estate investment more inclusive. The app's only requirements were that users be over age 18 and U.S. residents. They could start investing with just $5, and buy and sell shares as well as see real-time updates on their properties from the Landa app. (Assaraf left the company in December of 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has not responded to requests for comment.) Today, Landa's investment portal site is down and its app is inoperable. Users claim they can't access their funds and haven't been paid dividends in months. The startup is embroiled in litigation, including a lawsuit from its early venture investor Viola. One early user told TechCrunch that Landa stopped paying dividends to him on his shares in January. When he asked Landa about it, they 'punted the question,' he said. 'I repeatedly emailed them about it and just got deflecting answers, nothing real,' the user said. 'Then a few months after that, the app became unusable. It would not open.' Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW The user then asked if he could delete his account, which he had opened in 2021, and sell the shares. But he found Landa had disabled his ability to sell shares. 'They have essentially frozen me out of my funds and just shut down the app,' the user said. 'Where is the money? Why won't they return it to me?' Over 130 complaints have been filed against Landa to the Better Business Bureau, with dozens of people echoing similar allegations. For instance, on May 1, one user who filed such a complaint shared they had invested over $8,000 through Landa and stopped receiving dividends last fall. The user said Landa customer service replied to their emails by saying that the company is 'working on it.' In mid-April, when TechCrunch asked Landa about the issue — including the status of its downed site and whether the company itself had shut down — CEO Cohen said: 'Of course not. The site will be back up.' When asked why the app was not working and why users had not received dividends in months, Cohen's terse reply still seemed to refer to the website, blaming the servers: 'It's unrelated to dividends. It's from our servers. We are on it.' Upon further prodding, Cohen on April 18 shared the following statement: 'We are aware of the issues currently affecting our platform and product, and want to assure all investors that we are actively working to restore full functionality as soon as possible. We have kept investors informed through all updates, including the server access issue. We appreciate the continued support of our investors and resident community, and remain committed to delivering on our vision of making real estate investing accessible to everyone.' Cohen did not respond to our request for a status update on May 20. Investors NFX and 83North did not respond to our multiple requests for comment. Embroiled in a lawsuit It's not just users who are upset with Landa. The company's primary lenders are suing. Viola Credit and L Finance filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against Landa in November 2024, accusing it of 'numerous defaults' on more than $35 million worth of loans they extended to the company. (Viola is also an investor in Landa through its venture division.) The lenders also accused it of missing property tax payments that led to the forced sale of those properties, neglecting properties, and even failing to collect rents. The lawsuit — first reported by real estate industry publication Bisnow — states that after over a year of attempting to get Landa to honor their commitments, the lenders removed Landa as manager of the homes and appointed an independent property manager and a chief restructuring officer. After further negotiations failed, the creditors later asked the court for, and were granted, an injunction blocking Landa from accessing bank accounts, interfering with their attempts to restructure the business, and reclaiming money they say is owed — including proceeds from property sales. Despite the injunction, the lenders returned to court in January 2025, claiming Landa told tenants to send rent payments to a different bank account not covered by the ruling. They discovered this while making repairs to one property's septic system. They also accused Landa's CEO of trying to sell or refinance some properties. The court ordered Landa to explain itself. Instead, in early March, Landa asked the court for a restraining order against Viola Credit and L Finance, claiming the independent manager was 'installed unlawfully.' Judge Jennifer G. Schecter was not pleased. In March, she ordered both sides to find a solution 'that's good for all of your clients.' She denied Landa's request for an injunction and ordered the company to pay nearly $100,000. A few weeks later, Landa filed a formal countersuit. The case is still pending. Challenging model Landa is just one of several startups that emerged in recent years offering fractional real estate investing. It is also apparently not the only one that has struggled — especially after mortgage interest rates began soaring in 2022. Fintor raised millions of dollars before seemingly pivoting to offer an 'AI Agent to automate finance and real estate operations with human level performance.' Dallas-based Nada, which offered index-like real estate investment products called 'Cityfunds,' allowing non-accredited investors to buy into a city's home equity market with as little as $250, also appears to have pivoted. Its website now promotes a new tagline: 'Access home equity to finance anything.' Arrived was perhaps the highest-profile of the bunch — and the only one that seems to be actively operating under the same model. In May of 2022, TechCrunch reported that Arrived raised $25 million in a Series A funding round including Bezos Expeditions, to allow people to buy shares in single-family rentals with 'as little as $100.' According to its website, the startup has to date paid out over $13 million in dividends and interest and has 766,000 registered investors. As for those people who invested with Landa, the future of their money appears uncertain. As of May 23, Landa's investor portal website still redirects to a 'come-back-soon' maintenance message. Image Credits:Landa
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Spanish rider Landa returns home for 'long recovery' after Giro crash
Spanish cyclist Mikel Landa has been transferred home for an expected "long recovery" after fracturing a vertebra in a high speed fall on the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, his team confirmed on Monday. The 35-year-old Basque climber hit a curb before falling to a pavement a metre below in Tirana last Friday, on the first of three days racing in Albania. Despite the confirmation of a fracture there were no further complications and Landa was able to travel home, his Belgian Soudal Quick Step team said, adding that their rider was "in good spirits and optimistic for the future". Landa himself thanked the spectators who helped him on the roadside, the hospital staff, his team and everyone "who has taken care of me and helped me to return to my home". "It will be a long recovery but the support that has been shown to me will strengthen me on my journey," Landa said in the team statement. Landa had been amongst the favourites for the overall title at the Giro d'Italia after he finished third in two previous editions. After three days in Albania, the Giro will continue across the Adriatic to Italy, with Monday a rest day for the fourth stage a flat run to Lecce in the heel of Italy. jk/dmc/ea
France 24
12-05-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Spanish rider Landa returns home for 'long recovery' after Giro crash
The 35-year-old Basque climber hit a curb before falling to a pavement a metre below in Tirana last Friday, on the first of three days racing in Albania. Despite the confirmation of a fracture there were no further complications and Landa was able to travel home, his Belgian Soudal Quick Step team said, adding that their rider was "in good spirits and optimistic for the future". Landa himself thanked the spectators who helped him on the roadside, the hospital staff, his team and everyone "who has taken care of me and helped me to return to my home". "It will be a long recovery but the support that has been shown to me will strengthen me on my journey," Landa said in the team statement. Landa had been amongst the favourites for the overall title at the Giro d'Italia after he finished third in two previous editions. After three days in Albania, the Giro will continue across the Adriatic to Italy, with Monday a rest day for the fourth stage a flat run to Lecce in the heel of Italy.
India Today
12-05-2025
- India Today
NIA arrests key Khalistani terror operative involved in 2016 Nabha jailbreak
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday successfully caught a key Khalistani operative, Kashmir Singh Galwaddi, who had been actively involved in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak and was linked to foreign-based Khalistani terrorists, including Harwinder Singh a criminal from Ludhiana, Punjab, was arrested in Motihari, Bihar, in a coordinated operation with local Motihari Police. His arrest is part of the ongoing investigation into a major Khalistani terror conspiracy who has been on the run since his escape from the Nabha jail in 2016, has been closely associated with Rinda and other designated Khalistani terrorists. As a significant figure in the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Galwaddi played a crucial role in providing shelter, logistical support, and terror funds to terrorists who had escaped to Nepal after executing various terror activities in India. Among these activities was the RPG attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence was identified as a proclaimed offender in the NIA case, which was filed to investigate the growing links between terror groups such as BKI, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).The NIA initiated this case suo moto in August 2022 to probe the terrorist activities orchestrated by leaders and members of these banned organisations. The investigation revealed a complex nexus between terror groups and organised criminal gangs, with both groups involved in smuggling terrorist hardware—including arms, ammunition, explosives, and IEDs—from across the border to execute terror attacks across the past two years, the NIA declared Galwaddi a proclaimed offender and issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him. A cash reward of Rs. 10 lakh has also been announced by the agency for any information leading to his July 2023, NIA filed chargesheets against nine individuals, including Sandhu and Landa. In the following months, the agency filed two supplementary chargesheets against six other August 2024, the NIA secured the extradition of Landa's brother, Tarsem Singh, from the UAE, and filed a third supplementary chargesheet in December In advertisement
Hindustan Times
11-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Punjab: NIA nabs Nabha jail break escapee from Bihar
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a key Khalistani operative, associated with foreign-based Babbar Khalsa terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, and one of the hardened criminals who had escaped during Punjab's Nabha jail break in 2016, an official statement said. The breakthrough came when the NIA nabbed Kashmir Singh Galwaddi of Punjab's Ludhiana from Motihari, Bihar, in coordination with local police in connection with a Khalistani terror conspiracy case, the statement said. Since breaking out of Nabha jail, Kashmir Singh had been actively associated with designated Khalistani terrorists, including Rinda, it said. An important node of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Rinda's terror gang in Nepal, Kashmir was a proclaimed offender in the NIA case for his role relating to involvement in conspiracy, providing shelter, logistics support and terror funds to aides of the Khalistani terrorists, the NIA said. These aides had escaped to Nepal after carrying out various terror activities in India, including the RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) attack at the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters, the NIA said. The NIA had registered the terror conspiracy case suo moto in August 2022 to probe the terrorist activities of chiefs/members of proscribed terrorist organisations such as BKI, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), among others, it said. The investigations had exposed a terror-criminal nexus, suggesting that these terror groups along with organised criminal gangs were engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition explosive, IEDs etc. from across the border to carry out terror activities in various parts of the country, the NIA said. The NIA had in July 2023 chargesheeted nine accused, including Sandhu and another Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, in a terror conspiracy case followed by two supplementary chargesheets against six others. In August 2024, the anti-terror agency had successfully secured the extradition of Landa's brother Tarsem Singh from UAE and filed a third supplementary chargesheet against him in December.
