The sharks may be kicking themselves for this one. A Chicago consortium of five real estate crowdfunding platforms has announced a joint acquisition of 100% of California-based Tycoon Real Estate. This marks the first acquisition of a real estate crowdfunding platform ever.

Tycoon CEO Aaron McDaniel pitched the fairly new concept on CNBC's hit show Shark Tank earlier this year, as a company that offers residential and commercial real estate investment opportunities to its users. The sharks didn't get the idea, and McDaniel ultimately declined an offer of $50k for 50% of the business from Kevin O'Leary.

He's surely glad he held out. His investors feel that the exposure from the show has created an awareness of real estate crowdfunding. The new owners—American Homeowner Preservation, Patch of Land, PeerRealty, Crowdfranchise and EquityRoots—plan to use Tycoon as an educational platform to show the world what the industry is really about. [PRN]