Compass, a US-based online real estate portal backed by media group Advance Publications, received $100m in series E funding from investors including financial services group Fidelity Investments yesterday.
The round also featured venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and investment firm Wellington Management, as well as other, unnamed investors. The deal values the company at $1.8bn, according to TechCrunch,
Compass operates an online platform that enables users to purchase, sell and rent up-market property, matching them with agents who can best help them close the deal.
The company is also developing customer relationship management software and will allocate some of the funding towards that project.
The capital will also support an expansion drive as Compass seeks to double the number of cities in which it is present. It is targeting Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle over the next 12 months.
Compass has now raised a total of $325m since it was founded in 2012 as Urban Compass, according to its latest press release.
Wellington Management previously led a $75m series D round for Compass in September 2016 that valued it at $1bn, investing together with IVP, Thrive Capital, Founders Fund and .406 Ventures.
Advance Publications also participated in the company’s $60m funding round in 2015, which was led by IVP with participation from Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, .406 Ventures, as well as angel investors Kenneth Chenault and Marc Benioff.
Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, .406 Ventures and Benioff were among the investors that provided approximately $36m of funding for Compass across two rounds in 2012 and 2013, before it closed a $40m round backed by Advance in 2014 that valued it at $360m.
Ori Allon, founder and executive chairman of Compass, said: “Compass is building the infrastructure, data and tools that will power the next generation of this industry.
“This new funding will allow us to double down on our development of transformative technology, while fuelling continued expansion into all of the top real estate markets in the country.
“Our long-term vision is for Compass to be everywhere as the world’s largest real estate platform.”