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PLACE Raises $100 Million, Led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, at a $1 Billion Valuation
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I have some big news to share! My company announced our first-ever investment of $100 million, led by Goldman Sachs and 3L, making our company a billion dollar company!
I’m so proud to be a part of this growing organization. To be at a company with a big vision that provides opportunities for my personal and professional growth is beyond exciting. This investment means that we are hiring more talent to enhance the business services we provide and the technology platform that allows our clients to be more efficient and productive.
If you or someone you know are looking for an opportunity at an innovative, growing company, reach out to me!
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Proud to be @poweredbyplace as we announce a $100M fundraise led by @GoldmanSachs & our $1 BILLION valuation! The $ will provide more talent, tech and consumer services to enhance our business. #IFoundMyPLACE #PoweredByPLACE #RealEstate #Technology www.place.com/series-a
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FAQs
When was PLACE founded?
2019
What does PLACE do?
We provide a technology platform that provides top agents every tool and service they need to run their business all in one place. Our goal is to simplify the homeownership process for both agents and consumers.
We do this in two ways:
- Helping real estate professionals and their staff eliminate up to 75% of their daily tasks so that they have more time to help buyers buy and sellers sell.
- Helping consumers save time and money while buying and selling real estate with the use of our proprietary technology and home services such as mortgage.
Why are we different or better than competitors in this space?
PLACE is the ONLY business services and technology platform available in the industry. PLACE is not a brokerage, we are a brokerage agnostic platform that partners with top agents regardless of the brokerage brand they choose to affiliate with.
What are our growth metrics?
PLACE was profitable the first year in business. In 2020, PLACE top line revenue exceeded $85 million with more than $11 million in profit. In 2021, PLACE will double and exceed $150 million in top line revenue.
How many employees do we have?
We currently have approximately 300 full time employees working remote and in our physical locations located in Bellingham, WA; Salt Lake City, UT; Portland, OR; Edmonton, AB; and Austin, TX. We expect to grow to 700 to 1000 in 2022. This is in comparison to approximately 200 employees at the end of 2020
What will we do with the new capital?
We have three primary uses of our capital:
- We plan to double the size of our organization to support the rapid growth and provide more value to our current customers.
- We will expand our current technology platform to better support agents and consumers to reduce the friction of buying, selling, and owning real estate.
- The remaining capital will be used to expand our consumer service offerings including mortgage, title, insurance, and home repairs.
What does this mean for our operators, agents, customers and staff?
We will be able to expand our services and hire more talent to enhance our end-to-end technology platform and deepen the impact of our business services. This enables us to deliver our ongoing commitment to helping agents become more productive and efficient by eliminating 75% of the tasks agents and staff have to complete everyday.
For home buyers and sellers, we will be able to accelerate our ability to simplify the homeownership process and power an unparalleled consumer experience and savings.
For our staff, our commitment to operating a profitable, growth-minded company will continue. This investment adds both a layer of accountability to our partners and significant resources to support expanded services to our customers. To keep our technology products best-in-class, we hire additional talent and will provide news on additional benefits towards the end of the year.
How has PLACE been funded before this raise and what is your valuation?
Our business to date has been self funded and bootstrapped by the founders which forced us to responsibly use capital and to always run a profitable business model.
Our current valuation is $1 Billion. Prior to this, we had not raised any capital and had no official value established.
How many customers/users do you have?
We currently work with top producers in over 100 top markets in the US and Canada. We have more than 10,000 top agents using our technology platform from all real estate brands and brokerages.
What new markets are you considering?
Our services are available in all markets across the US and Canada. This is one of the benefits of truly being a technology platform and not a brokerage.
Why Goldman Sachs Asset Management was attracted to PLACE: (From Goldman Sachs Perspective)
First, we like that PLACE built its software first, specifically for top agent teams, and has seen strong commercial traction selling it standalone under the Brivity brand. At the same time, top agents need more than just software; they need a full-stack offering that fully abstracts away the complexity of running a business. It is rare that we can invest in a full-stack business with clear validation of the technology on a standalone basis. Second, we view PLACE’s ability to serve agents across any brokerage affiliation as differentiated – you don’t need to leave your current brokerage to join PLACE. Finally, the performance of PLACE’s platform operators, many of whom we spoke with in our diligence, was extremely encouraging – they have been attaining industry-leading scale and profitability.