Pacaso's $75M 'Mini-IPO': Billion-Dollar Homes, Tiny Investors
'Pacaso,' brainchild of Zillow wiz Spencer Rascoff and former dotloop CEO Austin Allison, turned luxury home headaches into a $1B unicorn in 5 months flat. Founded in 2020, the startup sold vacation homes in Jackson Hole, Tuscany, and Napa not just as timeshares but as 'equity shares,' because owning half a villa sounds more fancy. When traditional VC funding (nearly $220M from names like SoftBank) felt like squeezing lemonade from a dry lemon by 2024, Allison heroically discovered Reg Aā a legal loophole letting startups crowdfund nearly $75M from 17,500 investors throwing around $4K each like they're buying avocado toast. Their pitch deck evolved through five versions, catering to rich folks who already pull in half a million in yearly income, proving millionaires want more ways to complicate property ownership. CEO Allison bragged they 'hit four top raises in Reg A history,' while thousands tuned into investor webinars, probably hoping to be the next mini billionaire with a slice of Tuscan paradise. The campaign ran from October 1, 2024, to September 18, 2025, making luxury crowd-investment an oddly cozy club for the very rich to appear less alone. Meanwhile, the rest of us just scroll by in aweāor confusion.
Share the Story
Why own one villa when you can own 1/8th and argue with 7 strangers about jacuzzi schedules? Pacaso raised $72.5M by making rich people into accidental Airbnb roommates while pretending itās investing.
Pacasoās Reg A crowdfunding: because nothing says "luxury vacation" like sharing your dream home with 17,499 other ambitious 'investors' spending $4K each. Sharing is caring, if youāre rich and donāt want full commitment.
Congrats to Pacaso for turning millionaires into timeshare-meets-stock-holdersāfinally a way to say, 'I sort of own Tuscany, theoretically, if my LLC behaves.' Investing has never sounded so confusing and exclusive.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 10/26/2025 | Author: Lakshmi Varanasi
More Articles in Business
Salesforce AI Flops, Google Car-Dwellers & Senior Homebuyers Take Over
KPMGās 450K Sq.Ft NYC HQ: Employee Feedback or Round Table Cult?
Rivian CEOās $4.6B Stock Option: Billionaire or Billion Procrastinator?
DoorDash Execs Fail at Delivery, Beta-Test Their Own Chaos
Parenting & Two Jobs: Health Writer Floors Architectural Chaos!
