Roofstock raises $240M at $1.9B valuation to expand access to real estate investing
Leading digital real estate platform surpasses $5B in transaction volume and announces plans to double workforce this year
OAKLAND, Calif., March 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Roofstock, the leading end-to-end online platform for single-family rental (SFR) investing, today announced it closed a $240 million Series E equity financing round, bringing the company's valuation to $1.94 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the financing with participation from existing and new investors including Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Citi Ventures, First American Financial, Expanding Capital, 7GC & Co., JLL Spark, SVB Capital, The Private Shares Fund, Masco Ventures, Newton Investment Management North America, Pegasus Tech Ventures, CAZ Investments, Moving Capital (aka Uber Alumni Investment Club) and DoorDash Angels.
Roofstock's digitally enabled platform is transforming the $4 trillion fragmented, cottage industry of single-family rental (SFR) home investing into an increasingly relevant asset class. Both individual and institutional investors are discovering Roofstock's growing service offerings and powerful data which power a robust ecosystem of SFR ownership and investing. With revenues nearly tripling year-over-year and organic investor platform traffic growing even faster, the company is in a period of hypergrowth at the epicenter of the rapidly developing SFR investment landscape. Since its founding, Roofstock has facilitated more than $5 billion in transaction volume, more than half of which came from the last year alone, including both individual investor transactions and some of the most significant portfolio transactions by institutional owners in the sector.
"There has never been a time quite like this for single-family real estate, and Roofstock is truly at the vanguard of making the market work for everyone," said Gary Beasley, CEO and co-founder of Roofstock. "We're grateful for the continued support from our new and existing investors and stakeholders who share our vision to make this a modern, radically accessible asset class. I could not be more excited to welcome our partners from SoftBank to join us on this ambitious journey."
"Real estate is a huge asset class that has been relatively untouched by technology, and is often fragmented, analog and inefficient as a result. Roofstock makes buying and investing in rental homes seamless and accessible, and we saw a huge opportunity for the platform, particularly as interest in the sector continues to grow," said Serena Dayal, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We are excited to partner with Gary and the team as the company grows into a category leader and de facto resource for SFR investors."
This funding round and Roofstock's accelerating growth and popularity demonstrate its leading role in the future of this asset class. The company is doubling down on its ambitions to innovate and continue the momentum it has seen from its wide range of tech-forward investment products. Priorities include:
- Bringing more industry-leading solutions to market: Roofstock will continue to enhance its Roofstock One offering to accredited investors. For as little as $5,000, Roofstock One makes investment in SFR radically simple by enabling accredited investors to invest in a diversified portfolio of professionally managed SFR homes. The company is also investing to help further improve accessibility and liquidity in the SFR asset class. It recently was accepted into the Cypher Accelerator program at the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to help accelerate its real estate tokenization initiative.
- Doubling the Roofstock team: The company aims to double its team in 2022, including hiring across all roles from engineering and product to marketing, analytics and operations. The company is also building out Roofstock Labs, its internal incubator for next-generation products and services for the industry at large.
- Developing products and services to optimize portfolios: With nearly 15,000 homes already under management, Roofstock is one of the largest national providers of third-party SFR property management services. The company plans to expand its property management footprint, as well as grow its suite of services for landlords to include analytics and banking-related services through Stessa. In addition to filling these needs for SFR investors, Roofstock will accelerate its expansion into other forms of real estate investing, similar to its recent expansion into the growing short-term rental market.
- Strategic M&A: This round helps provide capital for additional strategic M&A on top of the three previous acquisitions the company has completed since its inception, which include Streetlane Homes, Stessa, and Great Jones.
Roofstock is growing rapidly at an opportune time for its customers and partners, thanks to the growth and heightened interest in SFRs. Fueled by its unique operating model and relationships, anyone from the largest global asset managers who have no presence yet in SFR, to the largest institutions already in the SFR space, to the individual investor can invest, manage and sell individual homes or portfolios with ease. Roofstock's data, platform and people allow all investors to choose their own solutions and services to pursue their individualized investment goals or objectives.
In 2021, Roofstock handled over $1 billion in trading volume in just its portfolio trading business, which is used by many major institutions already in SFR. Roofstock is also rapidly scaling its Investment Services offering, which allows institutional investors to leverage Roofstock's full-stack platform to build their own bespoke SFR portfolios, for which Roofstock can also offer property management. In 2021, this Roofstock division purchased thousands of homes on behalf of institutional clients, representing over $1.2 billion in assets.
"Roofstock has built the modern real estate technology and financial rails to unlock the massive potential of this asset class for investors everywhere," said Gregor Watson, co-founder and Chairman of Roofstock. "It has expanded beyond a marketplace for trading homes and has become a critical platform for anyone on a journey to generate wealth through real estate."
To learn more or to get started with Roofstock, please visit roofstock.com.
About Roofstock
Roofstock is the leading digital real estate investing platform for the $4 trillion single-family rental home (SFR) sector. Its innovative technology and software level the market's playing field, making it possible for both incumbents and new investors to maximize opportunities across the U.S. and realize substantial rewards in a customized, transparent digital experience. The company provides extensive resources for institutional and retail investors to buy, manage, and sell investment real estate online. Founded in 2015 and recently named to Forbes' list of America's Best Startup Employers 2022, Roofstock has raised over $400 million from investors such as Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Canvas Ventures, SVB Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. A recently-minted proptech "unicorn" with nearly a $2 billion valuation, Roofstock has facilitated more than $5 billion in transactions on its platform to date.
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SOURCE Roofstock
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