Founded in January 2020 in New York City by Philip Michael (CEO) and Martin Braithwaite (Chief Vision Officer)—a midfielder for FC Barcelona. The company merged property investment, fintech, and a goal of democratizing real estate ownership for underserved communities, especially women and millennials of color. Positioned as the “Robinhood of real estate,” NYCE allows micro-investors to co-own rental buildings via its app REIFY by NYCE, enabling investments as low as $1–$100 per share.
NYCE acquires, operates, and develops apartment buildings and student housing in markets like New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and San Antonio, often partnering with Temple University on co-living and investor-accessible housing. It promotes its mission to help underserved groups build generational wealth—aiming to create 100,000 millionaires of color by 2030 through fractional real estate investment and financial education via its TRIBE community.
Within a short span, NYCE became the fastest real estate startup to raise $1M via Regulation CF, acquiring over 1,500 apartments and managing a property pipeline valued at $500M+, including the TEMPLE I & II student housing developments near Temple University.
The NYCE platform grew to over 175,000+ community members (users, investors, and subscribers), with ongoing media features and a strong social presence (2.5M+ followers documented in 2024).
According to financial disclosures, NYCE generated $14.8M in revenue in 2021, up from $5.3M in 2020, with projected growth and EBITDA profitability in 2022; yet short-term projections through December 2022 showed $0 cash on hand by Sept 2023, and break-even on revenues vs. operational burn (~$745K monthly).
NYCE continues operating and crowdfunded in mid‑2024 (raising ~$1.68M) to fuel its expansion mission—developing more properties, scaling its app offerings, and advancing the TRIBE and NYCE Private Concierge services for wealth-building programs.