Why did we launch a fund?

The real estate space is crowded with funds that address an equity need once real estate deals are shovel-ready; however, there is an unmet need as it relates to the pre-development and acquisition capital required to bring deals to the shovel-ready stage. The resources that are available in the form of pre-development and acquisition loans require a track record, guarantor, and initial equity that many early stage developers do not have. All the while, there continues to be a significant amount of value (land, vision) that is untapped in between the stages of concept development and project financing. Ultimately, many mixed-use development plans go unrealized or lose value over the time it takes for early stage developers to secure financing for pre-development and/or land acquisition.

With real estate experience that spans socially-oriented mixed-use developments, anchored by education, housing, health & wellness, and workforce, the Seal Ventures team is uniquely positioned to source and invest in early stage developers with plans to develop undervalued real estate that can generate significant value through the right mixed-use plan and program. The value-add of Seal Ventures is in the team’s site selection expertise, creative capital sourcing, and the ability to generate a mixed-use vision for undervalued real estate.

Fund context & leadership

Derwin Sisnett and Nora Jendoubi lead Maslow Development Inc., a nonprofit real estate development company that co-designs and develops real estate and community ecosystems across the country. Their backgrounds span the community development, education and venture capital space, with a particular focus on holistic real estate development.

A native New Yorker, Derwin was born and raised in a neighborhood in desperate need of revitalization. While he attended a high performing school in an affluent part of the city, his daily commute to and from school highlighted the stark contrast between the two neighborhoods. His decade-long experience developing holistic communities was born from his upbringing.

Ten years ago, Derwin launched a school as a way to revitalize one of the most distressed neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee. He realized early on that as good as the school was, the school was not enough, so with a $5M private investment and $11M public investment, 24 acres of blighted apartments were acquired and eliminated, an additional 18 acres of land were acquired, and a 450-student middle school was built along with a performing arts center and affordable housing. This model has proven what is possible when you build community assets in concert with one another.

A San Francisco native, Nora saw the contrast between affluence and poverty as the daughter of a Tunisian father from an impoverished village and a French-born mother from an upper-middle class Italian family. Nora’s multicultural background catalyzed her understanding of inequality and the impact zip code has on socioeconomic mobility.

Nora’s experiences working at the World Health Organization, conducting political science research at Stanford, and helping expand internet access in Sub-Saharan Africa at Google led her to become interested in innovations that are transformative in scale and in the intersection of design and economic development. As a Teach for America Corps Member and 7th grade math teacher in one of San Francisco’s largest public middle schools, Nora became dedicated to disrupting systemic poverty through the lens of education.

Prior to joining Maslow, Nora was a Coro Fellow, which exposed her to the inner workings of government, non-profit, and for-profit organizations through consultancy project rotations. To link systemic community change to what happens inside the classroom, Nora pivoted into the community development space and joined Maslow in the summer of 2017.

Having studied psychology at Emory and economic development & design at Stanford, Derwin and Nora respectively are personally and professionally committed to social equity. Seal Venture’s leadership is uniquely qualified to understand the need for this work and to harness the power of community voice in order to develop holistic ecosystems.