Matterport produces cameras used to capture images for3D mapping of indoor spaces and the creation ofdigital twins. The company also provides varioussoftware as a service for real estate and property management.[7][8]
Matterport was founded as a private startup in 2011 by Matthew Bell, David Gausebeck (known forGausebeck–Levchin test used inCAPTCHA technology) and Michael Beebe. The company was established after Bell and Gausebeck developed a prototype camera for capturing 3D images inside a room using thePrimeSense camera-on-a-chip, and later recruited Beebe for his expertise in3D modeling andmedical device design.[3] In early 2012, the company joined the startup acceleratorY Combinator toincubate their project.
In April 2012, Matterport claimed that its prototype camera could scan 3D objects "20 times faster" and "18 times cheaper" than their competitors, and initiated collaborations withreal estate andvideo game developers.[9] In that year, the company secured US$1.6 million inseed funding. Subsequently, by March 2013, Matterport raised another US$4 million from 39 investors to initiate aSeries A round of financing.[10][11]
In July 2013, Matterport announced plans to release its first camera to the public.[12] In November 2013, Bill Brown became the CEO of the company.[13][14]
Matterport launched their first camera named 'Pro 3D' on March 13, 2014.[15][16] In June 2014, Matterport competed against 14 other early-stage real estate startups inRealogy's FWD Innovation Summit, a real estate technology competition, and emerged as the winner.[17] Subsequently, the company raised US$16 million in aSeries B funding round, in part to bring its 3D mapping technology tomobile devices.[18]
In June 2015, Matterport raised US$30 million in aSeries C funding round with the goal ofdiversifying from its camera products and enhancing its software for stitching images together invirtual reality.[19] The company began scaling operations and shifted its focus to the consumer by accelerating the development of content-capturing capabilities on mobile devices and expanding its developer platform across its web and mobile apps.[20]
On December 3, 2018, Matterport appointed R.J. Pittman, who was previously theChief Product Officer ateBay, as its CEO.[6] Bill Brown, the former CEO, remained on the company board as an advisor.
In April 2020, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Matterport laid off 90 of its employees or roughly one-third of its workforce.[21]
On February 8, 2021, Matterport announced its intention to go public by merging with Gores Holdings VI, aspecial-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a US$2.9 billion deal.[22][23] The merger and deal were completed on July 23, 2021, and Matterport began publicly trading on theNasdaq as MTTR.[24][4]
Around the same time in July 2021, Bill Brown, the former CEO, sued Matterport over a bylaw regarding the SPAC merger acquisition that prevented him from trading shares of the new company following the merger.[13][25][26] The court later ruled in favor of Brown on January 10, 2022.[27]
2022–onwards: Post-merger and acquisition by CoStar
On January 5, 2022, Matterport completed the acquisition of Enview, a company that specializes in artificial intelligence for 3D spatial data, for a total of US$37 million.[28][29] Subsequently, in July 2022, Matterport acquired VHT Studios, a real estate marketing agency, for an undisclosed amount.[30]
In July 2023, Matterport announced arestructuring of the company, which resulted in the layoff of 170 employees (equivalent to 30% of its workforce) as a cost-cutting measure.[31]
In September 2023, Matterport was sued by investors for "allegedly allowing self-dealing by insiders".[32]
On April 22, 2024, it was announced that Matterport would be acquired by theCoStar Group for a cash andstock deal valued at approximately US$1.6 billion.[33][34] The acquisition was completed on February 28, 2025.[35]
A Matterport Pro 2 Camera scanning a restaurant inBangkok,Thailand.
On March 13, 2014, Matterport launched their first camera named 'Pro 3D', targetingcontractors, real estate companies andarchitects, alongside a subscription-based cloud service and a web-based content player.[15][16]
The Pro2 demonstrating its outdoor 360° capture capability atDal Lake,Srinagar.
In June 2017, Matterport launched their second camera, named 'Pro2', as an upgraded version of their first camera, featuring improved resolution andgeotagging capabilities.[36][37] The company subsequently launched a cheaper version of the camera named 'Pro2 Lite' in February 2018.[38][39]
In August 2022, Matterport launched a third camera named 'Pro3' as an upgrade to the 'Pro 2' camera, which features aLiDAR sensor.[40]
In 2016, Matterport developed a tool to generatefloor plans from their camera images.[41][42]
In January 2019, Matterport introduced a subscription-based platform called 'Cloud 3.0', which was supported by its image-processingartificial intelligence software known as Cortex.[43][44] The platform aimed to lower the cost of entry into the 3D mapping technology space by enabling its software to be compatible with360-degree cameras from other companies such asInsta360 andRicoh (specificallyRicoh Theta).
In 2014, Matterport collaborated with other companies such asGoogle onProject Tango, an augmented reality platform,[45] and withRedfin to create a 3D walkthrough feature for real estate listings.[46]
In July 2021, Matterport announced a collaboration withFacebook AI Research and released the Habitat-Matterport 3D Dataset (HM3D),[47] a collection of 1000 digital twins generated from real-world environments that was intended for use in academic research such as inembodied artificial intelligence.[48][49][50]
