Zillow’s $200-per-share pop, and $40M for 3D printed homes Inbox

Zillow’s stock rocket

If you bought Zillow stock last year, you’re in the money.

Shares of the listing giant shot up nearly 20 percent last week, breaking $200 per share on Feb. 11, a day after Zillow reported better-than-projected earnings for 2020.

To put that in perspective, the stock is now up 280 percent from last year at this time, when it was trading around $50 per share. (And yes, that’s before it plunged to around $20 on Covid fears.)

Now, a slew of analysts think it could go even higher: Citi raised its price target to $250 from $130. Zillow’s market cap is now $47 billion.

What’s behind the pop?

? Zillow reported record profits of $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the full year, Zillow revenue soared 22 percent to $3.3 billion.

? It struck a deal to buy ShowingTime, a home tour scheduler, for $500 million. It’s a huge deal for buyers who prefer to do everything online, from ordering food to hailing a cab.

? As for housing, home sales hit a record high last year and Zillow has been reveling in a growing trend of Zillow-surfing during the pandemic. Traffic to its website jumped 19 percent in 2020, as remote workers think about moving.

Your blockquote here…

Picturing an IPO

Matterport, a company synonymous with 3D photos and home video tours, is going public with a SPAC.

The deal, with a blank-check firm backed by billionaire Alec Gores, values the company at $2.9 billion. Matterport will receive $640 million in cash proceeds, including $295 million from investors Tiger Global, Dragoneer and Fidelity.

The California startup experienced a massive spike in business over the past year, as real estate was forced to shift online.

Matterport’s estimated revenue for 2020 jumped 87 percent to $85.9 million, up from $46 million a year prior, according to an investor presentation. Although it claims profitable unit economics, Matterport lost $3.9 million on an EBITDA basis, an improvement from a $27 million loss in 2019.

With a 3 percent stake after the deal closes, Gores is set to make $87 million on the deal.

Size matters

While we’re on the topic of SPACs, three blank-check firms hunting for proptech deals have upsized.

Fifth Wall Ventures, which originally set out to raise $250 million for its SPAC, closed a $347 million SPAC IPO. “We want to invest in an emergent, category winner,” said co-founder Brendan Wallace, who said the rise of proptech SPACs mirrors the evolution of the sector (i.e., some startups are ready to go public).

The Chera family’s Crown PropTech Acquisitions also upsized to $240 million from $200 million. Tishman Speyer also upped the size of its second SPAC to $300 million from $250 million. Its first blank-check firm has announced a $1.56 billion deal with smart-lock maker Latch.

$40M for leg0-like building startup

Mighty Buildings, a startup that builds homes using 3D printing and robotics, has raised $40 million.

The Series B, led by Khosla Ventures and Zeno Ventures, brings the company’s total funding to $70 million, according to Crunchbase.

Founded in Oakland, California, in 2017, Mighty Buildings’ 3D print panels can be assembled on site, cutting down on building time. “There’s no painting, finishing,” co-founder and COO Alexey Dubov told Crunchbase News. “It’s like lego blocks assembled together.”

So far, the company has completed about a dozen projects in California. Since June, its contracted revenue is up 30 percent quarter over quarter.

STAT OF THE WEEK

$13B

Adiós, Oyo

Oyo Hotels & Homes — the SoftBank-backed budget hotel startup — is pulling out of Latin America.

The company was the world’s second-largest chain in 2019 before the pandemic decimated its business, which already had been showing financial cracks. Last year, Oyo handed control of its Latin American business to SoftBank, which planned to invest $75 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Japanese tech giant did invest $60 million, but most of the money wasn’t spent. Now, Oyo plans to lay off most of its local support staff and focus capital and attention on India (where it is based) and Europe and Southeast Asia.

Mortgage startup bags $25M

UpEquity, a mortgage startup that helps buyers make cash offers, raised $25 million to amp up its product development.

The Series A, led by Next Coast Ventures, included $7.5 million in equity and $17.5 million in debt. UpEquity was founded in 2019 by CEO Tim Herman and Louis Wilson while they were at Harvard Business School. Now based in Austin, the startup automates underwriting and provides buyers with cash to boost their purchasing power. The company claims its software helps secure a low mortgage rate and speeds up closings.

UpEquity originated $100 million in mortgages in 2020. It currently operates in Texas, Colorado, Florida and California.

David vs. Goliath in transaction management

There’s nothing sexy about homeowners insurance. Except maybe the flood of capital pouring into startups like Lemonade, Hippo … and now Openly.

Nativ, a transaction management startup that’s taking on industry leader Dealpath, has raised seed funding from an investor that backed CompStak and VTS.

San Francisco-based Bling Capital invested $3 million into Nativ, valuing the New York City startup at around $14 million, according to co-founder Jeff Saul.

Dealpath — which claims its platform has helped clients close $5 trillion in deals — is backed by Blackstone, JLL Spark, LeFrak and Milstein, among others.

“We think we can really vie to be the leading deal management platform for commercial real estate,” Saul said.

Founded in 2018, Nativ is aimed primarily at lenders. Early users include AllianceBernstein, Silverstein Capital Partners, Benefit Street Partners and Prime Finance.

Small bytes

⭐ Opiniion, a resident rating platform, raised $3M from the Frazier Group and RET Ventures.
? Homewise, Toronto-based mortgage marketplace, raised a $2.4M seed round.
⅘ Fraction Technologies, a Vancouver mortgage startup, raised $227M in debt and equity.
? Flex-office startup The Yard is opening a new space in a 76K-sf former hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
? A Long Island home — claiming to be the “world’s first” 3D printed home for sale — is asking $300,000.

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