The real estate industry requires a lot of money to challenge it: Startups like Opendoor — which buys houses from people and flips them — not only need investment to grow into more cities, but also serious lines of credit in order to purchase homes.
Opendoor has already taken out $1.5 billion in loans for home buying. And the company now says it has accepted another $325 million in new financing that values it at more than $2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
That valuation validates the expensive business model and the company, which was last valued in 2016 at about half that figure. But that’s not all: Opendoor remains in serious talks with SoftBank’s Vision Fund for additional money that could arrive in the next few months, according to people familiar with the conversations. Those talks are still active despite the new funding.