Key Takeaways
- • Manifest raised a $2.5M pre-seed round co-led by VanEck Ventures and Lattice Fund, with participation from Compound and SALT, according to a Business Wire announcement.
- • Manifest is bringing U.S. private equity-style residential real estate onchain through $USH, a tokenized vehicle backed by Home Equity Investments (HEIs), with investment access described as possible in under 30 seconds.
- • The company claims $USH targets properties at roughly 50% discounts to fair market home values, a figure presented by the company and not independently verified in the release.
- • Proceeds will fund product development, strategic partnerships, DeFi integrations, and the planned launch of $USH.
Summary
Manifest, a financial protocol founded by Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward and Robert V. Lee, has announced a $2.5M pre-seed round co-led by VanEck Ventures and Lattice Fund, with participation from Compound and SALT, according to a Business Wire release dated March 20, 2025. The company emerged from CV and Alliance, two crypto accelerators, and positions itself as the first to bring U.S. private equity real estate onchain in a scalable and liquid form. It cites the $35 trillion U.S. home equity market as its addressable opportunity.
The company's product, $USH, is a tokenized real estate vehicle backed by Home Equity Investments. Manifest says $USH offers institutional-style exposure to U.S. residential, owner-occupied housing with lower fees and operational efficiency than traditional real estate investment. Other features described in the release include capital deployment at approximately 50% discounts to fair market home values, a tax-efficient structure designed for perpetual tax deferral, composability across DeFi protocols where tokens can be leveraged or borrowed, and onchain disclosure of portfolio composition, valuations, and collateral health. These claims originate from the company's announcement and have not been independently assessed.
Manifest contends that earlier real estate tokenization efforts failed because they fractionalized direct ownership, which reproduced landlord-style costs such as high fees, illiquidity, complex taxation, and management overhead. CEO Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward said international investor demand for U.S. real estate already exceeds tens of billions of dollars annually, and that the company combines Bitcoin's global reach with stablecoin utility.
Wyatt Lonergan, General Partner at VanEck Ventures, said VanEck is proud to back Manifest's mission to democratize access to real estate. Mike Zajko, co-founder and General Partner at Lattice Fund, described Manifest as pioneering permissionless real-world investing that bridges traditional finance and crypto-native infrastructure. Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward previously built and exited Roostify, which the release says powered $600B in mortgages for Chase and HSBC. Robert V. Lee is a former Deloitte strategy consultant.
The $2.5M will support product development, strategic partnerships, DeFi integrations, and the launch of new financial instruments ahead of the $USH launch. The release does not disclose a valuation, the total size of the $USH offering, or regulatory status.
The company's product, $USH, is a tokenized real estate vehicle backed by Home Equity Investments. Manifest says $USH offers institutional-style exposure to U.S. residential, owner-occupied housing with lower fees and operational efficiency than traditional real estate investment. Other features described in the release include capital deployment at approximately 50% discounts to fair market home values, a tax-efficient structure designed for perpetual tax deferral, composability across DeFi protocols where tokens can be leveraged or borrowed, and onchain disclosure of portfolio composition, valuations, and collateral health. These claims originate from the company's announcement and have not been independently assessed.
Manifest contends that earlier real estate tokenization efforts failed because they fractionalized direct ownership, which reproduced landlord-style costs such as high fees, illiquidity, complex taxation, and management overhead. CEO Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward said international investor demand for U.S. real estate already exceeds tens of billions of dollars annually, and that the company combines Bitcoin's global reach with stablecoin utility.
Wyatt Lonergan, General Partner at VanEck Ventures, said VanEck is proud to back Manifest's mission to democratize access to real estate. Mike Zajko, co-founder and General Partner at Lattice Fund, described Manifest as pioneering permissionless real-world investing that bridges traditional finance and crypto-native infrastructure. Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward previously built and exited Roostify, which the release says powered $600B in mortgages for Chase and HSBC. Robert V. Lee is a former Deloitte strategy consultant.
The $2.5M will support product development, strategic partnerships, DeFi integrations, and the launch of new financial instruments ahead of the $USH launch. The release does not disclose a valuation, the total size of the $USH offering, or regulatory status.
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