小蓝视频色情网页版

, a tech-focused startup building out a platform for residential real estate professionals,聽has raised $370 million in a that takes its valuation to $6.4 billion as the space continues to grow hotter and bigger.

Subscribe to the 小蓝视频色情网页版 Daily

According to and the company鈥檚 小蓝视频色情网页版 profile, that鈥檚 up 45 percent from its $4.4 billion valuation when it raised its $400 million last September. The round brings the company鈥檚 to over $1.5 billion since it was founded in 2012 as Urban Compass. (It dropped the 鈥淯rban鈥� in 2015, according to its 小蓝视频色情网页版 profile). A mix of new and existing investors participated in this latest round including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Dragoneer Investment Group, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the busy SoftBank Vision Fund.

In a press release, Compass said it plans to invest in 鈥減latform software and scaling operations, including continued expansion of its East and West coast product & engineering hubs.鈥� It鈥檚 also planning to use its new capital to invest more in 鈥渃loud, mobile and AI.鈥�

Compass said it is building an 鈥渆nd-to-end software platform鈥� aimed at streamlining the buying and selling of homes. It also offers a that 鈥渇ronts鈥� customers money to do home improvements such as staging and painting.

Indeed, the company appears to be growing robustly with revenue surging over 250 percent in the second quarter compared to Q2 2018. (It did not provide specific revenue figures). A spokesperson told me that Compass now employs about 2,200 people, up from under 1,000 a year ago. Specifically, it鈥檚 tripled the size of its product and engineering team to over 300 employees since its last raise in September 2018. Currently, Compass has more than 300 offices across the country and a team of more than 13,000 agents that work as independent contractors.

Also since its last raise, Compass acquired , a cloud-based software company that has built a customer relationship management (CRM) system for the real estate industry. It鈥檚 also made a slew of new hires including tapping Joseph Sirosh, former CTO of AI at Microsoft and ex-VP of advanced technology at Amazon, to serve as its Chief Technology Officer. The company opened its first West Coast product and engineering 鈥渃ampus鈥� in Seattle, Wash.

Looking ahead, the company declined to comment on whether it鈥檚 planning further acquisitions. According to its 小蓝视频色情网页版 profile, it鈥檚 made over time, including three this year alone. Besides Contactually, Compass has also picked up luxury brokerage Alain Pinel Realtors and Stribling & Associates.

The company said it is planning to launch in August 鈥渁 completely redesigned consumer search and app experience.鈥� Also according to the and validating its brokerage acquisitions above, Compass has put lots of money into 鈥渨ooing high-profile agents with hefty marketing budgets, slick technology and stock options as it dangles the prospect of an initial public offering.鈥� An inside source confirmed the company indeed sees an IPO as 鈥渁 potential option.鈥�

The real estate-focused space is expanding by the day with the number of brokerages increasing left and right. This year alone, the industry has seen a number of mega rounds as well as a slew of upstarts (such as raising money to compete in the space as well.

As I reported earlier this year, U.S.-based real estate companies as a whole raised a combined $4.99 billion across 105 transactions in 2018, according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. While that鈥檚 down from the $5.8 billion raised in 95 deals in 2017, it鈥檚 still a staggering 10 times higher than the $520 million raised by such startups in 2013, as you can see in the chart below.

I鈥檝e been watching the real estate space for a while now and it鈥檚 no surprise that an industry that鈥檚 been (pardon the cliche) 鈥渞ipe for disruption鈥� is seeing so many startups raising mega rounds. All this is fine and dandy when the economy is good. But the true test of how viable these companies are will be when we hit another downturn. We鈥檒l see.

Illustration: