Foundry Group files to launch $230M SPAC

BOULDER — Foundry Group, a Boulder-based venture capital firm, recently led a Series B effort that raised $400 million in equity and debt financing for real estate technology firm Knock. Knock, based in New York and San Francisco, is developing a real estate marketplace platform that allows users to trade in their homes the way they would a vehicle. The company plans to use its newly raised capital “to continue its nationwide expansion and accelerate the development of the proprietary technology behind its unique Home Trade-in platform,” according to a company news release. “At Knock we believe the only way to revolutionize the real estate industry is by addressing both home buying and selling, given 71 percent of consumers are doing both at the same time, which is why we’re creating a marketplace solution with our Home Trade-in platform,” Knock CEO Sean Black said in a prepared statement. In addition to Foundry Group, investors RRE Ventures, Corazon Capital, WTI, and FJ Labs and Company Ventures participated in the funding round. Foundry Group partner Seth Levine has joined Knock’s board of directors. “At Foundry we love working with passionate founders who are on a mission to fundamentally change an industry,” Levine said in a statement. The Knock team is exactly that — combining years of experience in real estate technology with a fundamental drive to change the way consumers buy and sell homes.”

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DENVER — Independent Bank Group Inc.’s (Nasdaq: IBTX) $1-billion acquisition of Guaranty Bancorp (Nasdaq: GBNK) will close Jan. 1, according to a document filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Denver-based Guaranty has more than 30 branches in Colorado, with locations in Berthoud, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland. Independent operates throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Houston areas of Texas, along with operations along Colorado’s Front Range after its April 2017 acquisition of 18 Northstar Bank locations. As of the end of June, Guaranty had more than $1.5 billion in deposits on its books for 2018. That was good for nearly 7 percent of the local market share and made Guaranty the fifth largest bank in Northern Colorado and Boulder Valley. Guaranty stockholders approved the acquisition in September. They also gave the go-ahead to a golden parachute compensation package totaling more than $14.2 million for five Guaranty Bancorp executives. Following the close of the acquisition on Jan. 1, “Guaranty Bancorp stockholders will receive 0.45 shares of Independent Bank Group stock in exchange for each share of Guaranty Bancorp stock held immediately prior to the merger,” according to SEC documents.

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