Porch Group boosts 2021 forecasts with new acquisitions, in wake of December SPAC deal

Porch Group, an online home services marketplace, hopes to make the relocation process a little less arduous for homebuyers and renters with new acquisitions seeking to expand its offerings.

The Seattle-based software maker, which began trading in late December via a blank check shell company, announced Thursday the acquisition of four businesses that it projects will increase its total addressable market to $320 billion, a 45% revision.

Dave Girouard, founder and CEO of Porch, in an appearance on CNBC Friday told Jim Cramer the business moves, which include a homeowners insurance provider, broadens the reach for the business-to-business-to-consumer operation.

“We really are making that experience for anyone that’s moving into a new home feel like it does to a CEO, where you get this corporate relocation and everything is just handled for you, and it’s magical,” said Girouard, who appeared on “Mad Money” after the stock market closed for trading. “We really think that should be the experience everybody has you know across the country.”

Porch acquired Homeowners of America, a Managing General Agent and insurance carrier hybrid insurance carrier, and V12, a marketing and data platform, for $122 million total, the company said in a news release. The digital marketplace also added two software companies to its portfolio to add home inspection and roofing services to its offerings.

Homeowners of America, which operates in six states and has licenses in 31, is a key asset expected to help Porch scale across the country.

The business moves prompted Porch to boost its revenue forecast for 2021 to $170 million, up from its initial projection of $120 million. The figure would represent a 134% year-over-year growth in revenue, the company said.

Porch is a software company serving businesses and contractors on the backend, which gives the company a channel to consumers each month to help provide homeowners with movers, insurance providers, electricity hookup and other duties related to the moving process, Girouard explained.

“We can help the consumer holistically, and by doing that these companies that we partner with these — 11,000 companies that we provide software to — you know, we make them look good, you know, to their customers and really stand out from their competition,” he said.

Porch.com merged with PropTech Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, on Dec. 23 and began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker PRCH the day after.

Since its debut, Porch shares are up 20%, closing the trading week at $17.81. Much of those gains came during the stock’s four-day winning streak, including Friday’s session, where it rallied nearly 40%.