Buy Before You Sell fintech Knock has allocated $5 million of a $15 million financing round to individuals alongside its investors.
The company announced an equity crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder, a public investment platform, to allow individuals to invest before it goes public or gets acquired.
The funding round is co-led by Second Century Ventures, the venture capital arm of NAR, and Foundry Venture Capital.
The goal, according to Knock co-founders Sean Black and Jamie Glenn, is to create investment opportunities they were unable to prioritize when their company Trulia went public and was acquired by Zillion.
People who used the product were unable to invest until it was already valued in the billions of dollars.
“We founded Knock to democratize the home selling experience,” Knock Co-Founder and CEO Sean Black said.
“We want to further democratize our business by giving our partner agents, loan officers, and customers the opportunity to invest in Knock before a potential IPO or acquisition. Through this Wefunder campaign, which we believe is the first of its kind in the real estate space, our stakeholders are able to share in the upside of a company they use every day.”
Individuals can invest as little as $100 through Wefunder, allowing regular people to become shareholders in Knock as a private company.
As Knock is launching this campaign, it has also secured more than $125 million in new revolving lines of credit to fund Knock Bridge Loans moving forward. This loan allows current homeowners to use their equity to buy a new house before selling, giving them more time to move through the selling process and score the best offer.
Homeowners can use their bridge loan for everything from a down payment to paying down debt and covering moving costs.
The company says it successfully adapted to the housing market pressures of the last two years, keeping it above water even as other tech companies folded.
“We’re not only proud that we pushed through, but that we leveraged the market downturn to offer our proprietary Buy Before You Sell solution to all lenders or agents to make their clients more competitive when it comes to buying their dream home,” Black said.
“The competitive landscape has been all but eliminated, and we are excited about our growth trajectory.
Launched in 2015, Knock works with LOs and real estate agents in 75 U.S. markets. Interested investors can find its Wefunder page here.
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