BESPOKE CREDIT SOLUTIONS
Our mission is to provide investors with high-quality, structured credit, while offering innovative, sponsor-aligned financing solutions for today’s evolving real estate landscape.
OUR FIRM
Opulum Capital is a platform focused on creating alignment in the commercial real estate private credit space. We design tailored credit solutions to support borrowers navigating a rapidly evolving market to deliver risk-adjusted yield to our investors. Our approach is grounded in rigorous underwriting, deep market insight, and a commitment to transparency and performance.
OUR FOCUS
Opulum Capital structures credit for commercial real estate operators. We provide stretch senior, mezzanine, and preferred equity solutions for acquisitions, refinancings, and recapitalizations. Our approach to each transaction is built upon professionalism, transparency, and creativity to address each individual borrowers needs.
Investment Guidelines
| Asset Value | $25MM+ |
| Deal Type | Lease-up, TCO, Value-add, Stable, Opportunistic |
| Property Type | Multifamily, Student, BFR |
| Units | 100+ |
| Geography | National w/ Focus on Strong Submarket Fundamentals |
| Horizon | 12 - 60 Months |
| Investment | Stretch Senior, Mezzanine, Preferred Equity, Pref + Participation |
OUR TEAM
Our leadership team brings decades of experience across real estate investment, structured credit, and institutional capital markets. We combine entrepreneurial agility with deep domain expertise to serve both investors and borrowers with precision and purpose.
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Partner, CEO
Steve is a founding partner of Opulum Capital and is active in deal sourcing, asset management, and capital formation. As CEO, he drives strategic direction of the firm, ensures disciplined investment selection, and guides the organization toward its goals to produce strong operational and financial performance.
Steve brings over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate with deep expertise in multifamily investment, structured finance, and analytics. He has built and led platforms that span the full investment lifecycle from origination and underwriting to strategic advisory and asset management.
In 2012, Steve established the multifamily preferred equity investment platform at RiverBanc. The platform's success ultimately led to its acquisition by New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT).
Earlier in his career, Steve built out a CMBS analytics and advisory platform at Helix Financial, which was ultimately acquired by BlackRock. There, he expanded the platform’s capabilities to serve third-party clients and played a key role in the Financial Markets Advisory group, providing strategic real estate insights to sovereign institutions around the world in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Outside of work, Steve enjoys life’s simple joys with his wife and three children. Whether coaching the Golden Cheetahs soccer team, diving into a great book, or embarking on family adventures, he’s always up for a thoughtful conversation.
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Partner, Head of Capital Formation
Mathew is a founding partner of Opulum Capital and is active in deal sourcing, asset management, and capital formation. As Head of Capital Formation, he focuses on understanding investor capital needs, raising funds, and strategically aligning them with tailored credit investments.
Prior to co-founding Opulum, Mathew was an Associate at LESTE, where he played a key role in the firm's U.S. real estate private credit platform. His responsibilities included sourcing and structuring investments, as well as facilitating capital relationships. In addition, he advised Lendmarq, a portfolio company origination business, helping design and scale its multifamily lending program.
Mathew began his career at Greystone, concentrating on structuring equity behind GSE debt executions, gaining valuable expertise across agency-backed capital markets. He holds a dual degree in Management and Legal Studies from Tulane University, with a minor in Sustainable Real Estate Development.
Passionate about both the financial and creative worlds, Mathew enjoys skiing, cooking, practicing yoga, and supporting emerging contemporary artists.
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Partner, COO
Alexandra “Sasha” Kichayeva is a founding partner of Opulum Capital and is active in deal sourcing, asset management, and capital formation. As Chief Operating Officer, she is responsible for operations, investor relations, and asset management, ensuring transparency, performance, and alignment with investor objectives.
Sasha brings to Opulum over a decade of experience in the commercial real estate market, where she has directly managed the full investment life cycle of both debt and equity investments. Prior to Opulum, Sasha joined Leste Group, a global alternatives manager, with a mandate as the Director of Acquisitions to build out and manage its multifamily acquisitions platform. A function of this path involved transitioning an existing book of multifamily investments into the new platform, where Sasha ultimately stepped into the asset management of these assets to effectuate the change.
Before joining Leste Group, Sasha served in multiple capacities at Prizma Capital, including deal sourcing, underwriting, and closing of real estate investments across North America and Europe. Additionally, she actively collaborated with the investor base providing asset management and investor reporting of those investments. Earlier in her career, Sasha sourced, underwrote, and closed commercial real estate investment opportunities at Marcus & Millichap, Lior Group, and Ackman-Ziff.
She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and speaks four languages: English, Russian, Hebrew, and French. Outside of work, Sasha enjoys cooking international cuisines, boxing, cheering on her favorite Premier League team, Chelsea, and diving into a great business book.
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Partner, Head of Originations
Joe is a founding partner of Opulum Capital and is active in deal sourcing, asset management, and capital formation. As Head of Originations, he manages the end-to-end deal pipeline and leads deal sourcing, collaborating with borrowers to structure creative financial solutions.
Joe brings over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, with a focus over the past 15 years on multifamily investment and capital origination. He has a proven track record of building and scaling platforms, leveraging deep industry relationships and market insight.
In 2011, Joe led the development of the originations platform at RiverBanc, where he was instrumental in deploying equity investments to multifamily assets across the country. The platform’s success led to its strategic acquisition by New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT).
Earlier in his career, Joe originated CMBS loans at Merrill Lynch during the formative years of the securitized debt market. He went on to hold origination roles at First Eagle Bank, a real estate-focused lender in Chicago, and Bridger Commercial Funding, which was subsequently acquired by NYMT.
Joe is known for his long-standing industry relationships and collaborative approach. Many of his partnerships span decades, a testament to his integrity and consistent performance across cycles.
He holds a degree from the University of Southern California and remains actively engaged in his personal and professional communities. Outside the office, Joe is a dedicated supporter of youth hockey and enjoys following the sport at all levels.