By Knock Hires Goldman Sachs, Fueling IPO Speculation
Is the company behind the fast growing Home Swap knocking on Wall Street’s door? Knock CEO Sean Black will only confirm the hiring of Goldman. He was part of the team that took Trulia public.
Knock, an alternative mortgage company that lets homeowners buy before they sell, has hired Goldman Sachs to help prepare it for a potential public offering.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg, and shared with Inman via email.
Knock CEO Sean Black confirmed to Bloomberg the company’s plans of hiring Goldman but did not verify the reason.
According to Bloomberg, Knock is considering a public offering round with goals of between $400 and $500 million, merging with a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) or executing a direct listing.
A valuation ranging from $500 million to $2 billion is apparently being pursued by Knock, according to an unnamed Bloomberg source. Black was part of the leadership group that took Trulia public. Trulia is now owned by Zillow.
Knock’s value is based on its Home Swap program, a lending product that helps sellers enter the market without the burden of having to sell their existing home in order to execute an offer on a new house.
Knock also provides up to $250,000 in interest-free bridge funding to cover market preparation and repairs, a down payment advance and the seller’s mortgage while their home is on the market.
Several other real estate industry players have or are planning to enter the public trading space of late, including Compass, Opendoor and Offerpad.
The company first launched Home Swap last summer in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix, and has rapidly expanded. In February, Home Swap moved into Los Angeles, and has since expanded to cover the majority of Southern California. And just this month, it launched in Minnesota’s Twin Cities and Nashville, Tennessee, making it available in 27 markets nationwide.
Knock grows its services by partnering with regional brokerages, training agents and assisting them in carrying out Home Swaps. The company works with about 76,000 real estate agents from over 150 brokerages across all of its 27 markets. It was founded in 2015.
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Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
