Blockchain-driven investing app Hedgehog unveils two new tokens representing fractional investments in real-world assets, including real estate and infrastructure.
The tokens, available to individuals in the US, UK and Switzerland, target a combination of regular income and growth, and will be available to buy directly via the Hedgehog app for $5,000.
Hedgehog is on a mission to make it more accessible and efficient for people to invest through digital and automatic investment processes. It has secured investment opportunities in more than $1.5billon of real assets, including warehouses, content studios and renewable energy infrastructure.
Rob Lamb, co-founder of Hedgehog, says: “Our model is to provide investors with the opportunity to pick and choose between investments that offer a different mix of benefits, to prioritise the outcomes most important to them as individuals: financial, social or environmental.”
Real assets
Real assets, or tangible assets with intrinsic value, can provide stability and reassurance in periods of stock market volatility, while they also offer portfolio diversification. Institutions, including pension funds, are increasing their ownership of real assets, says Hedgehog – citing a 2021 Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.
Hedgehog uses tokenisation technology, underpinned by blockchain-based smart contracts, to offer digital tokens that are backed by income generated, directly or indirectly, by real-world assets. It says that by removing barriers to entry, it enables eligible individuals to have more control over the investments they own.
Both tokens represent indirect investments in real-world assets located within one hour of Manhattan, New York:
- Industrial Warehouse @ i.Park 84 is a fully leased manufacturing building at i.Park 84, the former IBM East Fishkill semiconductor manufacturing facility situated on 300-acres of land with more than three million square feet of buildings.
- Solar @i.Park Hudson a large array of rooftop solar in the New York metro area: 3,700 solar panels covering 2.2 acres of rooftop that provides the tenants of @ i.Park Hudson with a source of green energy.
Hedgehog co-founder Michael Ward adds: “We are catering to investors that have demand for some of the benefits that investing in valuable real-world assets can provide. Industrial Warehouse @ i.Park 84 is a source of stable cash flow and upside potential, while investors in Solar @i.Park Hudson can earn regular income and support the transition to a low-carbon economy at the same time.”
