Originally founded in 2012 as Urban Compass, Compass Real Estate started with a bang when it secured $8 million in seed funds from global business juggernauts like Goldman Sachs and Thrive Capital. Robert Reffkin and Orio Allon’s vision of a real estate industry that used innovative technology to empower people’s ability to sell or buy homes proved to be an instant success, and soon people were flocking to Compass.com to benefit from their people-focused technological advancements.
This continued growth and word-of-mouth led to the company becoming the fourth largest real estate broker in the entire country.
This upward trajectory was inevitably met with some obstacles that the business had to overcome in order to maintain the best possible service to its customers, and some of those issues have possibly led to concerns amongst the general public. But rest assured that Compass Real Estate has resolved all of these unfortunate issues and that this innovative real estate brokerage firm is still helping people to achieve their goals and gaining glowing online reviews.
Resolved legal issues and the Covid pandemic
Compass Real Estate found itself in a legal dispute in 2019 when competitor company Zillow filed two lawsuits against them. In the lawsuits, Zillow accused Compass of allegedly poaching employees who had non-compete clauses in their contracts, as well as stealing trade secrets.
In response, Compass firmly denied these allegations, and stated that Zillow’s non-compete clauses were nothing more than ‘scare tactics’. A settlement was agreed upon between both companies, and this matter has now been well and truly resolved.
Then, in 2020, as the world was still coming to terms with how the Coronavirus pandemic would affect their everyday lives, the real estate industry took a huge dip, which contributed to Compass losing $270 million that year. With such an unexpected issue to contend with, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin made the difficult decision to lay off 375 employees.
Going from $8 million in seed funding to $8 billion in 2021
With Covid restrictions lifted and all legal issues now resolved, Compass bounced back in style, continuing to blend innovation with the human touch for satisfied buyers and sellers across the country.
In 2021, the company went public and was valued at an incredible $8 billion, further solidifying the stability of Compass and gaining them more satisfied clients along the way. With such incredible news, it’s safe to say that these past obstacles, while learning curves for all parties involved, were temporary speedbumps on the way to bigger and better things.
What does the future hold for Compass?
With a focus on making even bigger waves across the real estate industry, and the kind of customer service and passionate approach that’s become synonymous with the company, it’s safe to say that the future is bright for Compass.
Potential new clients can rest assured that they’re in safe hands here and that these innovations will be at their disposal to make their real estate goals a reality in the very near future.
