UPDATED 13:07 EDT / SEPTEMBER 27 2018

EMERGING TECH

SoftBank leads $800M in funding for real-estate unicorns Compass and Opendoor

SoftBank Group Corp. is spending $800 million to buy a slice of the rapidly growing real-estate technology market.

The Japanese tech giant today was named as the lead backer of two separate $400 million funding rounds into startups Compass Inc. and Open Door Labs Inc., which are working to redefine how properties are sold in the digital age. The companies are now both said to be valued in excess of $2 billion.

Compass is the bigger player of the two, with a post-money valuation of $4.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. The New York-based startup operates an online marketplace where homeowners can list properties for sale or rent. For the agents managing the transactions, Compass provides an array of software tools that promise to help with tasks ranging from organizing sales data to finding the best time to list a home.

The startup has used these technological building blocks to create out a massive real-estate brokerage business. Compass employs more than 7,000 agents and expects to close $35.6 billion worth of transactions this year, up from $14.8 billion in 2017. This explosive growth puts it on track to close 2018 with revenues of more than $1 billion.

Compass plans to use the newly raised capital to expand into more cities, an effort that will see the startup expand beyond the U.S. for the first time. It’s reportedly also working on additional technology products.

Open Door Labs, which does business as Opendoor, is taking an entirely different path to changing the real-estate market. The startup doesn’t provide tools or services for managing real-estate transactions but rather buys properties itself with the help of internally developed algorithms. Opendoor uses the software to find a price that is attractive to the property owner but still allows it to make a profit by reselling the home later.

The startup currently operates in 19 cities and has set a goal of moving into 50 markets by 2020. Like Compass, Opendoor plans to spend the capital from the new SoftBank-led round on boosting its expansion.

The investment brings the startup’s total raised to just over $1 billion and gives it a valuation “north of $2 billion,” according to an anonymous source cited by  TechCrunch. It comes just three months after Opendoor’s previous $325 million raise.

Photo: SoftBank

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU