Waahe Capital: Impact Investing with Predictable Outcomes
Vikram Brar, Principal, Founder and Princi Gill, Principal, Founder
Buffett's words are fundamentally relevant across various facets of human lives. For instance, in real estate investing, a challenge that investors face is the need for a clearer understanding of best risk adjusted returns and who to trust to deliver those results.
Waahe Capital, a San Francisco Bay Area based commercial real estate private equity firm, is uniquely addressing these needs. Waahe Capital with over $180MM assets under management is a step beyond the other commercial real estate investment firms. The firm’s roots started in 2013, and in 2017 it grew as a vertically integrated and process-oriented firm that focuses primarily on acquiring value-add and well-located apartment building in the emerging US markets.
Waahe Capital was founded by Princi Gill and Vikram Brar who have extensive experience in working for fortune 50 and start-up companies in the Silicon Valley. Their domain expertise, wealth of knowledge, and commitment to do what’s right for the tenants, investors and employees has propelled Waahe Capital to maximize returns to investors by ensuring predictable outcomes while providing tenants with a modern and eco-friendly housing. Historically, Waahe has delivered over 25% IRR and 2x EM to its investors.
While working in Silicon Valley, Princi played a key role in successful implementation of strategic high impact business transformation projects with over billion dollars of impact. Vikram led operations team at med-device startups in the Silicon Valley, building scalable processes which helped them grow rapidly. Vikram leverages his executive experience and lean six sigma expertise to build scalable processes for Construction and Asset Management verticals to gain operational efficiency and deliver predictable results. He has developed amongst others, a proprietary 13-step interior renovation process leveraging manufacturing principles to streamline a traditionally inefficient and non-transparent process. Princi leveraged the standardization and waste eliminating principles to develop the Finance and Property Management verticals. She utilizes her background in finance to successfully implement strategic ideas and focuses on value creation through modern design, strategic sourcing, and cost-effective renovations. Together, Princi and Vikram approach every project pragmatically and commit themselves to the firm's objective of enriching people's lives.
Most real estate investment firms acquire properties and outsource all or most of the control tasks, such as property management, asset management, and renovation, to third parties. This model is not
efficient in maximizing returns for the investors and its success is dependent on successful completion by each of the third parties. This is where Waahe truly distinguishes itself. Being vertically integrated, Waahe Capital has endto- end control over the process and the projects, and this end-to-end control is what ultimately leads to a predictable outcome. Waahe has in-house acquisition, construction, asset management and property management verticals. Waahe also has an established global supply chain to source high-quality products and leverages it to control project cost, quality, and timelines with certainty and consistency.
With a vision of offering modern and eco-friendly housing to tenants and creating generational wealth for investors, Waahe Capital acquires underperforming multifamily assets that provide an opportunity to generate higher revenue through property and operational improvements. The firm then rebrands and increasesits net operating income through extensive SMART (sustainable, modern, aesthetical, responsible, transformational) redevelopment. The firm prioritizes projects that have the highest positive impact to the tenant’s lifestyle while also enhancing operational efficiencies.
"We have investors who continue to invest in subsequent investments as Waahe is consistently able to seek out exceptional value-add investments opportunities. Along with fulfilling their return-on-investment need, we are also enabling them to leverage their investments to have a positive impact on the communities, tenants, and neighborhoods” says Vikram.
In 2022 the US has experienced the highest inflation of the 2000’s and the Fed’s unconventional response to address this inflation is wreaking havoc on the traditional investment vehicles. Income producing Multifamily real estate investment is more than ever the best hedge against this inflation and the volatility in the stock market. 2023 will present one of the best Multifamily buying opportunities than what we have seen in more than a decade. Multifamily housing's low volatility has enabled it to historically outperform the stock market. The sector has consistently demonstrated that it is more resilient in economic downturns than any other asset class.
Vikram adds – “The foundational fundamentals of multifamily investment-household growth, job growth and income growth are solid in our target markets and the artificially driven recession is not going to impact them. The only thing that will get impacted the most in these markets will be the asset prices there-by creating a short term window of opportunity to buy assets at a discount in 2023.”
With a vision of offering modern and eco-friendly housing to tenants and creating generational wealth for investors, Waahe Capital acquires underperforming multifamily assets that provide an opportunity to generate higher revenue through property and operational improvements. The firm then rebrands and increasesits net operating income through extensive SMART (sustainable, modern, aesthetical, responsible, transformational) redevelopment. The firm prioritizes projects that have the highest positive impact to the tenant’s lifestyle while also enhancing operational efficiencies.
"We have investors who continue to invest in subsequent investments as Waahe is consistently able to seek out exceptional value-add investments opportunities. Along with fulfilling their return-on-investment need, we are also enabling them to leverage their investments to have a positive impact on the communities, tenants, and neighborhoods” says Vikram.
Over the years, Waahe Capital has invested substantially in developing its operational efficiencies and inculcating customer-centric values in all its employees
In 2022 the US has experienced the highest inflation of the 2000’s and the Fed’s unconventional response to address this inflation is wreaking havoc on the traditional investment vehicles. Income producing Multifamily real estate investment is more than ever the best hedge against this inflation and the volatility in the stock market. 2023 will present one of the best Multifamily buying opportunities than what we have seen in more than a decade. Multifamily housing's low volatility has enabled it to historically outperform the stock market. The sector has consistently demonstrated that it is more resilient in economic downturns than any other asset class.
Vikram adds – “The foundational fundamentals of multifamily investment-household growth, job growth and income growth are solid in our target markets and the artificially driven recession is not going to impact them. The only thing that will get impacted the most in these markets will be the asset prices there-by creating a short term window of opportunity to buy assets at a discount in 2023.”
In this next economic cycle, the success will lie in efficient property operations. Companies that have control over their entire value chain will have an advantage. Execution is where Waahe Capital excels and stands out. The firm has in-house end-to-end process control where it takes investment projects from acquisition to re-development to stabilization with a predictable outcome while reducing project costs by about 30 percent or more. Based on its team's expertise and leveraging a proven playbook developed by Vikram and Princi, Waahe capital provides best in class returns to its investors. In addition to the returns, the investors also have access to bonus depreciation and cost segregation tax write-off benefits.
Princi adds “Over the years, Waahe Capital has invested substantially in developing its operational efficiencies and inculcating customer-centric values in all its employees.”
In 2020, Waahe acquired a warehouse in Arizona for stocking bulk redevelopment materials to mitigate any supply chain constraints and, further enhance its lean redevelopment processes. A direct result has been in further streamlining the operations and completing projects in a predictable timeframe. Waahe sources only the best eco-friendly and sustainable renovation materials to provide Class A unit-level finishes to the tenants while keeping the rents at market affordable prices for the workforce tenants. This use of eco-friendly and sustainable materials also has a low-cost turn advantage when it comes to unit turns after the tenants move out.
"We are very proud of all our employees. Each individual works to provide our tenants with a modern and an eco-friendly home while upholding a value-creation ethic," further adds Princi.
Waahe Capital's vertically integrated approach to managing risk, benefits investors, and tenants alike. The firm's ability to control a project from conception to completion reduces uncertainty, increases efficiency, and passes along relative cost savings to investors in the form of higher returns. All the projects it undertakes are infused with the passion of its staff to improve the lives of tenants.
"We are very proud of all our employees. Each individual works to provide our tenants with a modern and an ecofriendly home while upholding a value-creation ethic."
True to the meaning of Waahe, which translates to “power that brings us from darkness to light," the company strives to remove ambiguity from the investing process, and its successes have allowed it to establish trust with its investors. To further add value to its existing and new investors and to take advantage of the upcoming one of the best investment opportunities in over a decade, Waahe capital has launched a Value-Add Multifamily Fund to provide the best risk-adjusted returns to the investors by being at the forefront of acquiring well located, price adjusted assets in its target market.
Princi adds “Over the years, Waahe Capital has invested substantially in developing its operational efficiencies and inculcating customer-centric values in all its employees.”
In 2020, Waahe acquired a warehouse in Arizona for stocking bulk redevelopment materials to mitigate any supply chain constraints and, further enhance its lean redevelopment processes. A direct result has been in further streamlining the operations and completing projects in a predictable timeframe. Waahe sources only the best eco-friendly and sustainable renovation materials to provide Class A unit-level finishes to the tenants while keeping the rents at market affordable prices for the workforce tenants. This use of eco-friendly and sustainable materials also has a low-cost turn advantage when it comes to unit turns after the tenants move out.
"We are very proud of all our employees. Each individual works to provide our tenants with a modern and an eco-friendly home while upholding a value-creation ethic," further adds Princi.
Waahe Capital's vertically integrated approach to managing risk, benefits investors, and tenants alike. The firm's ability to control a project from conception to completion reduces uncertainty, increases efficiency, and passes along relative cost savings to investors in the form of higher returns. All the projects it undertakes are infused with the passion of its staff to improve the lives of tenants.
"We are very proud of all our employees. Each individual works to provide our tenants with a modern and an ecofriendly home while upholding a value-creation ethic."
True to the meaning of Waahe, which translates to “power that brings us from darkness to light," the company strives to remove ambiguity from the investing process, and its successes have allowed it to establish trust with its investors. To further add value to its existing and new investors and to take advantage of the upcoming one of the best investment opportunities in over a decade, Waahe capital has launched a Value-Add Multifamily Fund to provide the best risk-adjusted returns to the investors by being at the forefront of acquiring well located, price adjusted assets in its target market.
