The iBuying space is getting increasingly crowded, and it's come home to roost for one top Silicon Valley unicorn.
Opendoor ($PRIVATE:OPENDOOR) is laying off staffers and losing leadership - and posting fewer jobs, judging by our data. The upside is, as it moves more roles at the company to Phoenix, Arizona, there is at least a chance the drop in job postings may soon be reversed.
Job postings at Opendoor plummeted from a peak of 335 this January to 105 at the most recent count in early July. That's a drop of nearly 70%, and comes just a few months after Opendoor announced a $300 million round that shot its valuation to nearly $4 billion.
Opendoor's downtrend is a stark comparison to Zillow ($Z), which recently announced plans to enter the online home sales space after developing itself first as a database for homebuyers and real estate service professionals. Zillow hasn't increased job postings much to begin 2019 - it only has four more roles now than it did at the beginning of the year posted online - but it appears postings are closing in on a recent high.
Zillow's move to join an already-crowded iBuying space pits Zillow against Opendoor, as well as startups like Perch (which recently raised more than $200 million in a cash-and-venture-debt deal) and Offerpad. Venture debt deals have gone hand-in-hand with budding iBuyer platforms, it seems - Opendoor, too, has raised private debt to fund its development. Its next challenge will be returning to the growth trajectory it once had - which, at the time, rivaled even Zillow.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Opendoor would relocate headquarters to Phoenix - it is moving some jobs there, but will remain headquartered in San Francisco. A representative for the company says Opendoor has doubled headcount in the last year, to 1,300 employees.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- The RealReal's pre-IPO growth data is real - and it's spectacular
- The Medallia dream story as told by data: from husband and wife team to a unicorn IPO
- An alternative data profile on Doordash as it prepares to potentially deliver an IPO