Groundfloor, the wealthtech platform that makes real estate investing easy for everyone, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Since the company launched, Groundfloor has delivered consistent 10% annualized returns across its investment offerings, and it has now surpassed $1 billion in total retail investment volume.

In 2013, co-founders Brian Dally and Nick Bhargava dreamed up the idea of creating a private capital marketplace open to everyone, not just the 1%. Bhargava helped author the Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012, designed to allow more small businesses to access capital. The two picked up and moved from Raleigh to Atlanta because the State of Georgia enacted the Invest Georgia Exemption, which liberalized securities regulations conducted within the state. Under Regulation A and the Invest Georgia Exemption, Dally and Bhargava entered unchartered territory, and for the first-time ever, Groundfloor packaged real estate debt securities for fractional participation by the general public. The first offering created $2 million in loans in Georgia alone, demonstrating the demand for real estate debt investing.

"We started Groundfloor because we saw that capital markets were due for a big disruption," said Dally. "We focused on real estate debt since being in first lien position is lucrative, but more secure and less volatile than owning equity in the same property. The mass market retail investor has never had such access to this part of the residential real estate capital stack."

With an idea that no company had ever tried before, Groundfloor then became the very first company qualified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to offer real estate real estate debt investments for both accredited and non-accredited audiences, eventually expanding investment opportunities to all 50 states.

"We created a product qualified by the SEC and with a low barrier to entry," says Bhargava. "Regardless of real estate investing experience, Groundfloor offers a customer-facing platform empowering investors to develop their own strategies, or using our automation tools."

Today, Groundfloor remains true to its mission of leveling the playing field so everyone can benefit from the high yields of real estate investing. In fact, to this day, anyone can still fractionally invest in real estate with as little as $10 — the same low barrier to diversification as when the company first launched to the public. Many other companies emerged to mirror what Groundfloor accomplished, but none have generated consistent, short-term, 10% returns.