Just three months after achieving unicorn status, real estate technology startup Side revealed Monday it has more than doubled its most recent valuation and that it’s getting ready to go public.
The company’s soaring fortunes are tied to an announcement that it has raised more than $50 million in additional funding. The new funding follows a $150 million Series D round, which was revealed in March and which valued Side at $1 billion — a highly sought after benchmark for tech startups that’s colloquially referred to as becoming a “unicorn.”
However, the new fundraising values Side at $2.5 billion, representing a shocking jump given that it took place in only three months. A company statement notes that investment firms Tiger Global Management, ICONIQ Capital and D1 Capital all participated in the latest funding round.
The statement adds that the new cash infusion “reaffirms Side’s position as the leading brokerage platform and the fastest growing real estate company in history.” And in total, the company says that it has raised “well over $250 million” across all of its funding rounds.
Side is also now preparing to sell shares to the public. The statement offers little information about when or how an initial public offering (IPO) might take place. However, it does mention that the new funding “will accelerate Side’s growth for its best-in-class technology brokerage platform, while setting the stage for a future IPO.”
If Side does begin selling shares soon, it’ll join a class of other buzzy, well-funded real estate startups that have also debuted on the stock market. Some of the highest profile examples include iBuyer Opendoor, which went public in December, and brokerage Compass, which debuted in April. Both of those firms had significant venture backing, including from Japanese megafund Softbank.
Guy Gal | Photo credit: Side
In Side’s case, CEO Guy Gal founded the San Francisco-based company four and a half years ago. Side offers agents a kind of ready-made brokerage, handling various back office tasks while still allowing agents to own and brand their companies. In the statement, the company added that it “partners with the best agents” and empowers them “with proprietary technology and a premier support team.”
Today, Side only operates in California, Texas and Florida. However, the statement notes that the firm is poised to enter 15 new states by the end of this year and that it should close $20 billion in home sales in 2021.
Gal, in Monday’s statement, noted that his company’s latest fundraising “signifies confidence in our vision to reinvent the traditional brokerage model.”
“We are excited to partner with more agents across the country,” Gal added, “increase investment in our existing agent partnerships, and further support more top real estate professionals in serving buyers, sellers, and renters better than anyone else from coast to coast.”
