Apartment List Doubles its Valuation with Recent Funding Round

Rental platform, Apartment List, has raised $50 million in a recent funding round, doubling its valuation to over $600 million, effectively beating predictions that 2020 would be a harsh year for the platform. In fact, real estate across all sectors has been resilient this past year. 

Founder and CEO John Kobs told Bloomberg:

“Our business is predicated on motion, and in 2020 we became profitable.

“Mobility stood out this year as more users on our platform looked to change their living situation.”

Kobs explained that even now, they are looking at a possible IPO in the very near future. Kobs said:

“Being public has always been a goal of mine, and there’s a lot of appetite from institutional investors to support a company like Apartment List.”

Leading the round was Janus Henderson 

Portfolio Manager for Janus Henderson, Denny Fish, further explained: 

“Apartment List’s unique value proposition — at the intersection of an industry we find attractive, a supportive macroeconomic backdrop and a huge market opportunity ahead — makes this a really unique and interesting investment for us.”

The new funding will go toward boosting sales and attracting more renters to its platform. The website already has 30 million registered users and over 5.5 million units available in its inventory. 

Apartment List is a Silicon Valley startup that launched in 2009. How the platform works is that it collects fees whenever a listed apartment is rented out. Apartment List has effectively helped 175,000 people in Texas find new rentals this year, alone.