Matterport Going Public to Fuel Digitizing the Built World
Today, Matterport goes public on the Nasdaq, a ringing endorsement of its ambition to bring the built world online and make it accessible to everyone, everywhere. Matterport’s listing reflects the growth of digital twin technology and the role of spatial data in unlocking value from billions of spaces worldwide. The size of the opportunity is enormous, and it all started very simply: with helping people find homes.
Matterport 3D virtual tours are by far the most realistic, cutting edge, and comprehensive way to experience a property online, all from the comfort of your home on your phone, tablet or laptop. Many of you may not realize it, but if you’ve viewed a 3D virtual tour online, you’ve probably experienced Matterport.
DCM’s journey with Matterport began in 2014 when our partner Jason Krikorian led the $16 million Series B round and joined the board. At the time, the company was essentially pre-revenue. We asked ourselves questions like “What markets would they go after?” and “Will 3D use cases finally become mainstream?” As with any category creator, the answers could not be ascertained at that time, and to an extent, we had to take a leap of faith.
What initially attracted us to Matterport was the idea behind capturing and indexing the world’s physical spaces in digital and 3D form, and turning buildings and spaces into data: the world’s most valuable asset. The data and the applications to be built on top had massive potential.
Matterport’s founders, Dave Gausebeck and Matt Bell, were exceptionally technical and had developed a camera and software platform to quickly and easily automate the 3D reconstruction of spaces with photorealistic accuracy down to the millimeter. It was unlike anything we had seen before. We imagined a world where one day every space — from office buildings, hospitals, homes, hotels, schools, retail shops, warehouses, and even yachts and airplanes — could be replicated as high fidelity, dimensionally accurate digital twins.
Over the course of the next seven years, we witnessed Matterport establish a leadership position, first with success in residential real estate, and then all areas of the built world, including commercial, AEC (architecture, engineering and construction), travel & hospitality, retail, insurance, and more. As the company scaled, we worked closely with the founders to build a world-class team, including co-leading (along with Peter Hebert from Lux) the search for a CEO with the capabilities to take Matterport public one day. That led us to the incomparable RJ Pittman, who saw the vision and massive potential in Matterport and joined in 2018.
But it was not all up and to the right. During the first months of 2020, Matterport braced for the uncertain future that COVID-19 presented. It soon became clear, however, that the company’s value proposition shined for its customers when they needed it most. Matterport experienced explosive growth as open houses were shut down and 3D digital twins and virtual tours became mainstream. It launched the Matterport Capture App, democratizing access to digital twin technology. The idea of buying a home without ever seeing it in person became common. A survey by Matterport showed 71% of property hunters would purchase a property sight-unseen.
Today, Matterport has the largest dataset of scanned spaces in the world with more than 10 billion square feet of “spaces under management”, and is the category leader in digitizing the built world. It has brought over five million buildings and spaces online — five times the size of New York City. As a global fund, DCM partnered closely with Matterport to help with their expansion in EMEA and Asia-Pacific, now one of the fastest growing markets for the company. Matterport is the leader in transforming buildings into data. In the near future, their data will increase the value of every building. Valued at more than $230 trillion, real estate is the largest asset class in the world, and we believe Matterport is just getting started.
Congratulations to the entire Matterport team on going public on the Nasdaq (“MTTR”)!
-Jason Krikorian, Kyle Lui, and the DCM Team
