More details about PayPal and Square exec Keith Rabois’ “big-data house-flipping” startup have bubbled up, offering a slightly more defined picture of who, what, where and when, VentureBeat reports.
- First, the startup has settled on a name: “OpenDoor” (its previous working name was “Homerun”).
- Second, it’s raised at least $6 million.
- Third, it plans to launch in July.
OpenDoor has attracted attention in part because of the proven track record of its founders as innovators, but also for the boldness of their vision: a platform that will allow homeowners to sell their homes almost instantly with just a few clicks of a mouse, which the company will then flip.
The company’s website tells visitors that homeowners who use the service will “receive an instant offer online and funding in as soon as three days,” and may enjoy “full certainty on the price and close date.”
OpenDoor will base those offers on analysis of public and private data, and it guarantees sellers “full certainty on the price and close date” of a transaction.
After OpenDoor purchases a home, it will sell it to turn a profit. The startup reportedly thinks it can pull that off because, if all goes according to plan, it’ll be able to purchase homes at a discount that will be “much less” than the 8 percent car dealers expect on trade-ins.
Rabois, a partner with Silcon Valley-based venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, founded OpenDoor with Eric Wu, the former head of “geo products” at Trulia, and Ian Wong, a former data scientist at Square.