By Cindy Taylor/Publisher
This past week's BIG fintech VC story was OpenDoor.
OpenDoor is a REtech, as we like to call them, that is disrupting the real estate industry, and is it ever going to disrupt things for realtors, too.
The firm just secured a $325M funding round from General Atlantic, Access Technology Ventures and Lennar Corporation. Pay special attention to that last investor. Lennar, based in Miami, is the largest home construction company in the U.S. and no doubt more than a little eager to see their realtor commissions reduced on home sales. The firm has raised a total of $645 million in equity and $1.5 billion in debt to date. Admittedly, those are VERY LARGE numbers, and we always have a question as to where all that money is going. No doubt a large part is allocated to marketing, as we've seen lots of television spots for them, at least in the Atlanta market, of late. Also, of course, that debt round is being used for the acquisition of the real estate properties it is buying.
With the fresh round of capital, the firm is stating that it intends to expand to a total of 50 US markets by the end of 2020, up from the current 10 it serves now, which include:
Phoenix, AZ
Dallas Fort-Worth, TX
San Antonio, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Atlanta, GA
Charlotte, NC