Nextdoor to Go Public in SPAC Deal Valuing Company at $4.3 Billion

The neighborhood communication app has 60 million users

Nextdoor, the social media app dedicated to connecting neighbors, said on Tuesday it will be going public via a deal with a special purpose acquisition company that values the company at $4.3 billion.

The San Francisco-based company said it had reached an agreement to merge with a SPAC backed by venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. Nextdoor would generate roughly $686 million in gross proceeds from the deal, with about $270 million coming from private investments from Baron Capital Group, T. Rowe Price Associates and other firms.

Nextdoor was founded in 2008 and launched in the U.S. in 2011. The app allows users to talk about what’s going on in their neighborhood and seek help from neighbors on anything from babysitting to home repairs. Nextdoor said company it’s available in 275,000 neighborhoods worldwide and used in about one out of every three U.S. households. Overall, the app had 60 million users at the end of the first quarter.

The company’s sales increased 49% year-over-year in 2020, hitting $123 million in revenue.

Nextdoor is led by CEO Sarah Friar, who had previously handled finances at Square from 2012 to 2018. Friar, in an interview with Axios on Tuesday, said the platform has tried to avoid the more polarizing aspects of social media while building the company.

“We know it’s good for business to build out a platform that’s about kindness, not in a saccharine way but in a bold way, and to support local businesses,” Friar said.

Friar said Nextdoor is focused on growing its user base, making its app feel more personal to users, and hiring new employees. The SPAC deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year; the company will use the ticker symbol “KIND” when it starts trading. (And for more details on an already record-setting year for SPAC deals, click here.)

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