Social Media Network Nextdoor Eyes IPO

Nextdoor Inc., a social media network that is something of a combined Facebook, Craigslist and Yelp and whose members connect only with neighbors, is exploring going public, Bloomberg News reported.

The San Francisco-based company is eyeing valuations from $4 billion to $5 billion, according to Bloomberg, and has seen its business grow amid COVID-19.

Bloomberg based the report on unnamed sources, writing: “Nextdoor might also go public through a direct listing or by merging with a blank-check firm, and a transaction may happen before the end of next year, one of the people said.”

Nextdoor has refused overtures from multiple special purpose acquisition companies, Bloomberg added, attributing the information to one unnamed source. Nextdoor didn’t respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg added.

The privately-held company lists its investors as including Benchmark, Shasta Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Riverwood Capital, Bond, Axel Springer and Comcast Ventures.  So far, Bloomberg stated, crediting PitchBook for the information, “Nextdoor has raised about $470 million, and was last valued at $2.2 billion after a funding round in September 2019.”

Nextdoor describes its business as maintaining an online place “where neighbors come together for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods and services.”

The company states on its website, “We believe by bringing neighbors together, we can cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on.”

Nextdoor states that it has presences in 268,000 neighborhoods globally — in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and Canada, “with many more to come” — and that in the U.S., 25 percent of households have been “verified” on the platform.

In April, Nextdoor and Walmart collaborated on a program the titled “Neighbors Helping Neighbors.” The initiative’s stated goal is to make it easier for people to shop for food and other items — at Walmart stores — for other people in their communities.