Compass, Inc.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Compass (disambiguation).

Compass, Inc.
TypePublic
NYSE: COMP
IndustryReal estate
Founded2012; 9 years ago (2012)
FounderOri Allon
Robert Reffkin
Headquarters
New York, New York
,
United States[1]
Area served
21 areas in the United States[2]
Key people
Ori Allon (Co-Founder and Executive Chairman)
Robert Reffkin (Co-Founder and CEO)
Kristen Ankerbrandt (CFO)
Rob Lehman (CBO)
Joseph Sirosh (CTO)
Greg Hart (CPO)
RevenueIncrease $3.72 Billion(2020) [3][4][5]
Number of employees
3000 Employees[6] 20,000+ Agents[6]
Websitecompass.com

Compass, Inc. is an American licensed real estate broker that utilizes the Internet as a marketing medium with the use of real estate technology. Compass employs more than 20,000 agents who earn a percentage of the selling price and give 15 to 30 percent on each sale to Compass.[7][8] Compass specializes in high-margin, luxury homes in upscale markets. Founded in 2012, the company is headquartered in New York City.[1] The company provides software to real estate agents.[9] Compass is the first company to have built a proprietary mobile app for real estate agents.[10]

Compass operates in 20 U.S. markets including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington D.C., Dallas, South Florida, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Aspen, The Hamptons, Santa Barbara[11] and Newport Beach.[12]

Compass has raised a total of US$1.5 billion[13] from investors such as Founders Fund, Wellington Management and Institutional Venture Partners,[9] Fidelity Investments,[7] Dragoneer Investment Group, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and SoftBank Vision Fund.[14] Compass was named Mid-Sized Business of the Year by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce in 2015.[15] Compass was named to Crain's Fast 50,[16] Inc. 5000,[17] and Glassdoor's Best Places to Work[18] in 2018. Compass received a Webby Award for Best Real Estate Website,[19] and was named to Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators[20] in 2019. Compass won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Real Estate in the category Web.[21]

Compass went public on April 1, 2021 with a valuation of $8.22 billion.[22]

History[]

Compass was founded by entrepreneurs Ori Allon and Robert Reffkin as “Urban Compass” in 2012. Allon was a Director of Engineering at Twitter, and previously founded companies acquired by Twitter and Google.[23] Reffkin had previously served as the chief of staff to the president of Goldman Sachs[15] and worked in the White House.[24][25] The company raised $8 million of seed funding from Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Goldman Sachs as well as several individual investors including American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, and ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi.[25][23] The initial business model employed full-time, salaried brokers, with whom users of the platform could schedule appointments online after searching for listings on the company's desktop or mobile app.[26] The company publicly debuted at an event in May 2013, where then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped celebrate the launch.[27][28] The company initially focused only on rentals.[28]

In September 2013, the company raised a Series A financing round of $20 million, at a reported valuation of $150 million.[29] Investors included Advance Publications, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, and .406 Ventures.[29][30]

At the beginning of 2014, Compass announced it would change its overall business model by contracting independent real estate agents and taking a portion of their commissions.[31] In July 2014, Compass raised a Series B financing round of $40 million at a valuation of $360 million, according to Bloomberg.[32] Shortly thereafter, Compass signed a lease on 25,000 square feet of office space at 90 5th Avenue.[33] The firm also hired Leonard Steinberg, a top-ranked real estate broker, from Douglas Elliman to serve as its president.[34][35] Steinberg was named the agent with the highest sales volume in 2016 by Real Trends.[36] The company reported having 125 agents and 70 staff at this time.[37]

In September 2015, Compass raised a Series C financing round of $50 million at a reported valuation of $800 million. The investment was led by Institutional Venture Partners.[38] The company also opened offices in Brooklyn, South Florida, Boston and the Hamptons.[39][40][41][42][38]

In August 2016, Compass raised a Series D financing round of $75 million, led by Wellington Management, which brought its valuation higher than $1 billion.[43][44] The company also launched a new mobile app that offers real-time data on the real estate market.[45] Earlier in the year, the company expanded into Aspen with the acquisition of Shane Aspen Real Estate[46] as well as Los Angeles.[47] Reports also cited Compass's expansion into Santa Barbara[43] and San Francisco[48] as well as several other smaller sub-markets of their other major metro areas.[49]

In 2017, Compass hired several new executives to its leadership team, including Madan Nagaldinne, a former Facebook and Amazon executive, as Chief People Officer,[50] and Craig Anderson, a former Flywheel executive, as chief financial officer.[51]

In November 2017, Compass announced $100 million in Series E investment by Fidelity Investments,[7] followed by the December 7, 2017 announcement of a $450 million investment by Softbank Vision Fund, bringing the company valuation to $2.2 billion.[14]

Compass also expanded into Chicago in late November 2017, signing the city's number-one real estate team.[52] Additionally, Compass announced aggressive expansion plans to 9 more cities.[53]

Less than a year later in September 2018, Compass announced a $400 million in Series F funding at a valuation of $4.4 billion.[54] In addition to Softbank Vision Fund, this series was led by Qatar Investment Authority,[55] which controls Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. Other investors included Wellington Management, Institutional Venture Partners and Fidelity Investments. Compass also announced plans to use these funds to enter international markets and double down on creating world-leading technology.[56] Compass planned to launch in Nashville, Houston, and Denver before the end of 2018.

Compass has promoted its "20/20 by 2020" plan, by which it would gain 20 percent market share in the top 20 markets by 2020. However, in January 2019 the company announced its intention to halt expansion, after encountering unspecified challenges. CEO Robert Reffkin acknowledged that the softening of the equity markets contributed to the decision not to enter new markets in 2019.[57]

In November 2019, Compass announced its plan to open its India Development Centre in Hyderabad.[58]

Compass filed to go public in March 2021[59] and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on April 1, 2021 under the ticker COMP. IPO shares were priced at $18 USD.[22]

Services[]

The Compass Concierge program assists in selling a home by covering the cost of home improvements to prepare the home for market.[60]

Compass Bridge Loan Services provides access to bridge loan lenders, with the option to get up to six months of the loan payments fronted when the home is sold with a Compass agent.[61][62]

The Compass Coming Soon program pre-markets properties on compass.com.[63]

Technologies[]

Compass Collections is a curated visual workspace that allows agents and clients to collaborate in real-time to organize homes, centralize their discussions, and monitor the market by receiving immediate status and price updates.[64]

Compass Insights is a dashboard that contains key data points agents need to craft marketing strategies, uncover new lead-generation opportunities, and invest accordingly in the positioning of their listings.

The Marketing Center is a digital design studio for Compass agents to create customized, personalized and localized marketing materials.[64]

Compass Markets is a mobile app that has real-time residential real estate data that provides access to recent transaction data as well as historic sales trends.[65]

Compass CRM is a customer relationship management platform powered by artificial intelligence.[64]

Acquisitions[]

The following is a list of acquisitions by Compass:

  • Lindsay Reishman Real Estate (November 2014)[66]
  • Bushari (January 2018)[67]
  • Conlon (April 2018)[68]
  • Northwest Group Real Estate [NWG] (April 2018)[69]
  • The Hudson Company (June 2018)[70]
  • Paragon Real Estate Group (July 2018)[71]
  • Pacific Union International (August 2018)[72]
  • Avenue Properties (August 2018)[73]
  • Wydler Brothers (November 2018)[74]
  • Contactually (February 2019)[75]
  • Alain Pinel Realtors (March 2019)[76]
  • Stribling & Associates (April 2019)[77]
  • Detectica (November 2019)[78]
  • Modus (October 2020)[79]
  • Glide Labs (April 2021)[80]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Lunden, Ingrid (September 15, 2015). "Compass Raises $50M at An $800M Valuation Led By IVP To Supersize Its Real Estate Platform". TechCrunch.
  2. ^ Compass. "Our regional offices, from coast to coast". Compass. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  3. ^ "SoftBank-backed real estate giant Compass valued at $8.2B in NYSE debut". April 2021.
  4. ^ https://rismedia.com/2021/03/02/compass-files-ipo-sec/#:~:text=The New York-based brokerage's,in 2019 and 2020%2C respectively.
  5. ^ techcrunch.com 2018/09/27
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Inc. magazine
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Tech Startup or Real-Estate Broker? Fidelity Values Compass at $2 Billion". Bloomberg.com. November 8, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  8. ^ Delprete, Mike (May 1, 2019). "How has Compass grown so fast? A look at the numbers". Inman. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Brown, Eliot; Kusisto, Laura (February 17, 2017). "Real Estate Is Latest Target for Would-Be Disrupters". Wall Street Journal – via www.wsj.com.
  10. ^ Bourque, Andre (September 28, 2016). "25 Inspiring Entrepreneurs Under 40 Who Are Creating the Next Big Thing". Entrepreneur.
  11. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Maelle Gavet is the new COO at real estate startup Compass". TechCrunch.
  12. ^ "Luxury real estate startup Compass expands to Newport Beach, scores top agent Rob Giem". Orange County Register. February 5, 2017.
  13. ^ Tabatabai, Arman. "Real estate platform Compass raises another US$370m on a 6.4b valuation en route to an IPO". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Jr., Berkeley Lovelace (December 7, 2017). "Softbank invests $450 million in real estate tech company Compass". CNBC. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "Why This Real Estate App Is Making New York Brokers Nervous". Fast Company. June 18, 2015.
  16. ^ "Compass". Crain's New York Business. October 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  17. ^ "Inc. 5000 2018: The Complete Rankings". inc.com. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  18. ^ "Best Places to Work". Glassdoor. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  19. ^ Liao, Shannon (April 23, 2019). "Here are all the winners of the 2019 Webby Awards". The Verge. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  20. ^ Company, Fast (August 5, 2019). "The 50 best workplaces for innovators". Fast Company. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  21. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (May 20, 2020). "Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards". The Verge. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "SoftBank-backed Compass valued at $8.22 bln in NYSE debut". Reuters. April 1, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b "After cashing out to Google and Twitter, Ori Allon is going all in with Urban Compass". November 27, 2012.
  24. ^ "Modernizing the New York apartment hunt". Fortune.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b Lunden, Ingrid. "With $8M in Seed Funding From Founders Fund, Goldman Sachs; Urban Compass Wants To Build A Hyper-Local, Human-Powered Database". TechCrunch.
  26. ^ "Urban Compass: can a startup finally fix the nightmare of renting an apartment in NYC?". The Verge. May 7, 2013.
  27. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Urban Compass Comes Out Of Stealth with a Hyperlocal Social Network, And A Disruptive Rental Portal That Will Serve As A Magnet".
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b "NYC tech start-up Urban Compass launches real estate focused site". New York Daily News.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Lunden, Ingrid. "Hyperlocal Power: Urban Compass Raises $20M at A$150M Valuation; Adds Advance Publications And Marc Benioff As Investors". TechCrunch.
  30. ^ "- New York City startup Urban Compass raises $20 mln in Series A funds". pehub.com.
  31. ^ "The big pivot: why Urban Compass has gone traditional". inman.
  32. ^ Taylor, Colleen. "Urban Compass Raises $40M To Expand Its Apartment Marketplace Beyond NYC".
  33. ^ "Urban Compass Signs Lease at RFR's 90 Fifth Avenue". Commercial Observer. July 22, 2014.
  34. ^ "Leonard Steinberg exits Douglas Elliman for Urban Compass". The Real Deal New York. June 2, 2014.
  35. ^ "WHO'S NEWS – Real Estate Weekly". Real Estate Weekly. June 20, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  36. ^ "The Real Trends/WSJ Thousand list for 2016 has been unveiled".
  37. ^ Hagey, Paul. "Urban Compass launches nationwide expansion push with Washington, DC, acquisition". Inman. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b "Compass raises $50M in Series C; now valued at $800M". The Real Deal New York. September 15, 2015.
  39. ^ "Compass opens first SoFla office on Lincoln Road". The Real Deal New York. August 21, 2015.
  40. ^ "Urban Compass picks up top team from Citi Habitats". The Real Deal New York. September 10, 2014.
  41. ^ "Compass riding $50M funding round into Boston". inman.
  42. ^ "Compass turns to the Hamptons, where rivals roam". The Real Deal New York. September 4, 2015.
  43. ^ Jump up to: a b "This startup that wants to blow up the real-estate market is now worth more than $1 billion". Business Insider.
  44. ^ "Compass Earns $1 Billion Valuation As New Unicorns Become Rarer". August 31, 2016 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  45. ^ "This $800 million startup just launched an app to make buying a home easier". Business Insider.
  46. ^ "Tech company Compass acquires Shane Aspen Real Estate". The Aspen Times.
  47. ^ "Compass to launch LA new dev division on heels of Hana Cha hire". The Real Deal. July 18, 2016.
  48. ^ "Compass now claims its agents account for $8B in sales -- but what's that number made of?". The Real Deal. September 2, 2016.
  49. ^ McAlone, Nathan. "This startup that wants to blow up the real-estate market is now worth more than $1 billion". Business Insider. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  50. ^ "Compass hires Facebook alumnus to steer recruitment strategy – Real Estate Weekly". Real Estate Weekly. August 23, 2017. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  51. ^ D'Amato, Peter (August 30, 2017). "Compass replaces chief financial officer". Crain's New York.
  52. ^ "City's top-selling residential broker team jumps to new-in-town firm". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  53. ^ "Compass reveals plans for massive expansion". Inman. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  54. ^ "Compass nabs $400M, valuing the real estate technology startup at $4.4B". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  55. ^ "Compass Is Said to Raise Funds at $4.4 Billion Valuation". September 27, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  56. ^ "Compass raises $400M from SoftBank, QIA; brokerage now valued at $4.4B". The Real Deal New York. September 27, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  57. ^ "Hitting the brakes: Compass won't expand to new markets this year". The Real Deal New York. January 29, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  58. ^ Kearns, Patrick. "Compass goes global with India tech hub, adds Amazon veteran". Inman. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  59. ^ Levy, Ari (March 1, 2021). "Real estate brokerage Compass files for IPO amid pandemic boom in housing prices". CNBC. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  60. ^ Zafar, Nina. "Real estate agencies put the spotlight on staging". Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  61. ^ Olick, Diana (October 21, 2019). "Brokerage Compass starts offering an easier, less expensive way to get a bridge loan". CNBC. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  62. ^ Kearns, Patrick. "Compass launches bridge loan program". Inman. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  63. ^ "Compass | Compass Coming Soon | Whisper Listings". The Real Deal New York. September 17, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  64. ^ Jump up to: a b c Nicoll, Alex. "Here's a look at the tech used at SoftBank-backed real-estate brokerage Compass". Business Insider. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  65. ^ McAlone, Nathan. "This $800 million startup just launched an app to make buying a home easier". Business Insider. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  66. ^ Haynes, Dion. "New York realty firm to open office in D.C." Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  67. ^ "Compass acquires Bushari Real Estate". Boston Agent Magazine. January 19, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  68. ^ "Compass acquires Chicago brokerage Conlon Christie's". Crain's Chicago Business. April 25, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  69. ^ Solomont, E.B. "Compass faces a reckoning". The Real Deal. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  70. ^ "Compass buys Hudson Company, continuing Chicago expansion effort". The Real Deal Chicago. June 25, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  71. ^ "Paragon Real Estate of SF acquired by Compass to form city's largest brokerage". SFChronicle.com. July 10, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  72. ^ "Compass buying Pacific Union - its second SF real estate acquisition in two months". SFChronicle.com. August 22, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  73. ^ "Avenue Properties joins real estate tech company Compass". bizjournals.com. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  74. ^ "Compass | Wydler Brothers Real Estate | Robert Reffkin". The Real Deal New York. November 13, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  75. ^ "Compass acquires Contactually, a CRM provider to the real estate industry". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  76. ^ "Compass buys Alain Pinel to create Bay Area real estate behemoth". SFChronicle.com. March 5, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  77. ^ "Compass | Stribling & Associates | Residential brokerages". The Real Deal New York. April 3, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  78. ^ Council, Jared (November 19, 2019). "Real-Estate Brokerage Compass Buys AI Startup Detectica". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  79. ^ "Real estate brokerage Compass to acquire Seattle-based home closing startup Modus". GeekWire. October 5, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  80. ^ "Compass buys Glide, RE transaction management platform". therealdeal.com. Retrieved April 21, 2021.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""