New York City-based real estate technology startup Compass has inked a $450 million investment from Softbank Vision Fund, just one month after raising $100 million in a round led by Fidelity. The recent funding brings the company’s value to $2.2 billion post-money, up from $1.8 billion just four weeks ago with $775 million in total capital raised to date.
Compass has been growing steadily and attracting institutional investors since it launched in 2012 under the name Urban Compass. In its early days, the real estate rental and sales platform announced an $8 million seed funding round from an elite group of backers, at the time marking one of the largest-ever seed rounds for a startup.
Ori Allon, the co-founder and chairman of Compass, is a serial entrepreneur and engineer with a strong track record of selling his companies to tech giants such as Google and Twitter. Compass’ other co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reffkin, was formerly a banker at Goldman Sachs and has a top-notch resume which has earned him numerous awards and a spot on Forbes 40 Under 40.
Allon indicates that the new capital from the Japanese conglomerate's $100 billion tech fund will help the company expand further in the US, from its current position in 11 cities, and even further on a global scale.
“We realized that to hit the goal of where we want to be in the next two to three years – Compass everywhere, in every major city worldwide – we need another partner, and that partner is the vision Softbank is aligned with,” said Allon.
While Compass employs traditional brokers, its software leverages data to improve efficiency in the real estate business and streamline processes on one simple mobile app for buyers and renters.
“Real estate is a huge asset class, but the sector has been relatively untouched by technology and remains inefficient and fragmented,” said SoftBank Operating Partner Justin Wilson. “Compass is building a differentiated, end-to-end tech platform that aggregates across diverse data streams to support agents and homebuyers through the entire process, well beyond the initial home search. With disruptive technology and unique data advantages, Compass is well-positioned for future growth in a sector that represents trillions in transaction volume.”
