US-listed house builder Lennar plans to spin off corporate venturing unit LenX later this year after losses from its investments, it has said.
The move would involve Lennar becoming a “pure-play homebuilding company,” the corporate said, citing volatility in the valuations of the publicly-traded companies in which it holds stakes.
In its latest quarterly earnings report, Lennar recognised $395m in paper losses during the three months ending February 2022 from its investments in six publicly traded tech companies: online real estate portal Opendoor, banking software provider Blend Labs, rental manager Sonder, home insurance platform developer Hippo, solar energy service provider Sunnova and self-guided tour provider SmartRent.
Lennar took part in Sonder’s $170m series E round and Opendoor’s $325m series E and $300m series F rounds before they went public.
LenX is also a major stakeholder in Doma, a publicly traded digital title, escrow and closing provider, but uses a different accounting method to estimate its value, according to real estate news publication Inman.
Helen Gurfel left Lennar Ventures at the start of 2021 and the group has subsequently been an active investor, rebranding as LenX.
The unit’s deals so far this year include Veev, a homebuilding service which secured $400m in its series D round; the $185m second tranche of advanced materials-focused homebuilder Icon’s $392m series B and a $30m round for Withco, the creator of a software platform designed to help small businesses manage commercial property.
