Built by operators. Run as a merchant bank. We originate middle-market CRE credit for institutional capital — and compound beneath the surface across four interconnected verticals.
Banks have permanently retrenched from non-agency CRE credit. Institutional allocators have raised record private-credit pools — and have not built the origination teams to deploy them. Propulsion sits between the two.
The current vintage is one of the best entry points in fifteen years — and the non-agency middle market has no scaled correspondent.
The Timing — Three Converging Conditions
Asset-light by design — fees without bearing principal credit risk. Each engagement is an entry point into more of the same deal across the capital stack.
Asset-light correspondent origination, underwriting, and servicing for institutional balance sheets.
Debt placement, CMBS, restructuring advisory, and distressed-debt execution. Fee-only revenue.
Sponsor advisory, JV equity placement, capital-stack structuring, and GP recapitalization.
GP-level co-investment in special-situations JV transactions — promote economics single-product shops can't reach.
Most CRE lenders have only lent. The Propulsion principals have been debt originators, equity investors, operating partners — and borrowers. We underwrite from the asset up.
The CRE credit landscape by loan size and product type. The lower-right quadrant — $25–100M, non-commodity, structured — has no scaled correspondent.
Walker & Dunlop, Berkadia, Greystone, Northmarq.
Blackstone, Ares, KKR, Apollo, Sixth Street.
Regional / community banks, LifeCos under Basel III and tighter supervision.
$25–100M non-agency. Non-commodity, structured.
Each stream is fee-based or promote-based. None requires Propulsion to carry principal credit risk on the underlying loans.
Paid at loan close. $1.75M Y1 → $6.3M Y3.
On outstanding balances, for life of loan — the compounding asset. $250K Y1 → $1.7M Y3.
On placed capital. Capital-light. $1.5M Y1 → $4.5M Y3.
Above deal IRR on special-sits JVs. 25% to Propulsion. $0 Y1 → $1.5M Y3.
8% preferred return paid first. Remaining NOI split 20% to investor / 80% to founders until 2× invested capital, then 10% / 90% permanently. No terminal value applied.
Worst case (zero revenue): ~24 months of runway. Capital-partner origination fees begin Q2 Year 1.
$3.5M seed.
24 months of runway.
Holding-company seed capital funds operations through Month 24. Year 1 covers pre-revenue operations; capital-partner flow begins Q2 Year 1 and offsets the Year 2 draw.