The white hot iBuyer startup Opendoor, which lets prospective homesellers offload their properties quickly and entirely online for a guaranteed price derived by an algorithm, is in the process of raising $200 million in a funding round that would value the company at $2 billion, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Opendoor has already raised at least $320 million in funding since its founding in 2014, and recently brought on $100 million in debt financing in January. The debt financing from the homebuilder Lennar was connected to an earlier capital raise of $135 million in part facilitated by the real estate tech-focused venture capital firm Fifth Wall Ventures.
Previously, the startup’s valuation had been pegged at above $1 billion.
People familiar with this ongoing round of talks told The Wall Street Journal that Opendoor would use this influx of $200 million to up its purchases of homes in the six areas it operates — Phoenix, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Orlando, and Raleigh-Durham — and to expand into new markets.
Earlier this month, Opendoor posted job listings in Charlotte, Minneapolis and Nashville, suggesting upcoming expansions into those markets. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that Opendoor was “on the cusp of moving into” Charlotte and San Antonio, Texas.
Opendoor at one point pledged to expand to 10 new markets in 2017 and nationally in 2018 but has so far fallen short of those goals.
Sources close to the company have previously told Inman it would likely be a while longer before Opendoor attempts to expand any of its homebuying or selling operations to coastal metropolises like San Francisco, where it is based, or New York, where housing is more dense and the regulations potentially more complex.
Opendoor CEO Eric Wu said in an interview earlier this year that an IPO is on Opendoor’s long-term horizon.
Opendoor buys homes from sellers who are drawn to the appeal of a fast transaction and guaranteed sale. Opendoor then resells those houses on its website.
Reached by Inman, an Opendoor spokesperson declined to comment on or confirm the report in The Wall Street Journal.
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