Virtual walkthrough software company Matterport is going public

Matterport, a company that provides virtual reality technology used in virtual walkthroughs of homes and office spaces, said this week that it’s planning to go public on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

With the move, Matterport follows in the footsteps of other real estate firms such as Opendoor and Porch.com, both of which recently went public via a special purpose acquisition company. Matterport is also being sponsored by a SPAC, called Gores Holding VI, which is an affiliate of The Gores Group LLC.

Matterport announced that it has entered into a “definitive agreement” to go public, and says it will be known as Matterport Inc. when it lists on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol “MTTR”.

The company said the transaction will value its business at more than $2 billion.

“Real estate and the built world is without question among the biggest frontiers ready for digitization, and in our view, Matterport is the clear market leader in the category with enormous potential still ahead," said Justin Wilson, senior managing director of The Gores Group.

Matterport, founded in 2011, has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing as buyers look to shop for homes online instead of going to see them in-person. The company provides software that can be used to create 3D renderings of homes. Prospective buyers can then “visit” the homes virtually, walking through them as if they were there in person. Besides homes, Matterport’s software can also be used to create digital representations of office spaces, museums, retail spaces and just about any kind of property. The company said it grew its user base by more than 500% in 2020, while its revenue grew by 87% to $85.9 million that year.

"Matterport has been at the forefront of spatial computing for the built world for over a decade,” said RJ Pittman, CEO of Matterport. “We believe the proposed transaction with Gores Holdings VI unlocks the potential of our platform and accelerates our mission to make every building and every space more valuable and accessible. We're thrilled to partner with The Gores Group, an innovative team with deep technology experience and a history of fueling major technology transformations."

Gores Holdings VI is a publicly listed, $345 million special purpose acquisition company. It is the seventh vehicle sponsored by an affiliate of The Gores Group, a global investment firm founded in 1987. In a press release, Gores said its strategy is to identify and complete business combinations with differentiated, market-leading companies with strong equity stories, which will benefit from the growth capital of the public equity markets.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.