Nextdoor Inc., the neighborhood network, and Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Khosla Ventures LLC, have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Nextdoor would become a publicly listed company. The combined company will be listed under the ticker symbol “KIND“.
Nextdoor offers organizations products that allow them to connect to neighbors that are receptive to their offerings as a part of the neighborhood ecosystem.
“Nextdoor has been at the forefront of cultivating ‘hyperlocal’ communities and neighborhoods since its inception, allowing neighbors to create meaningful connections – both online and offline,” said Sarah Friar, chief executive officer of Nextdoor. “Our business strengthens as we scale, benefiting from strong network effects, and we believe the proposed transaction with KVSB accelerates the growth potential of our platform. We remain focused on optimizing our strategy and investing in products to drive continued neighbor and organization acquisition and engagement.”
“We have long focused on partnering with cutting-edge, category-defining companies with tremendous growth potential, strong management teams and, importantly, clearly defined missions,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of KVSB and managing director of Khosla Ventures. “Nextdoor exhibits all of these qualities and more, and we look forward to continuing our partnership and accelerating Nextdoor’s growth as a public company.”
Following the merger, Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar, co-founders Nirav Tolia, Sarah Leary and Prakash Janakiraman, and founding investor Bill Gurley will each contribute a portion of their personal ownership in Nextdoor to form and fund the Nextdoor Kind Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping neighbors rejuvenate their neighborhoods through targeted grants.
The upsized $270 million PIPE investment includes participation from institutional investors, including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., Baron Capital Group, Dragoneer, Soroban Capital, accounts advised by ARK Invest, and ION Asset Management, in addition to existing Nextdoor investors Tiger Global and Hedosophia. Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar and Khosla Ventures affiliates each participated in the PIPE financing.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Evercore Group LLC are serving as joint-lead financial advisors to Nextdoor and placement agents to institutional investors for the PIPE to KVSB. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to KVSB. Fenwick & West LLP is serving as legal counsel to Nextdoor. Latham & Watkins LLP is acting as legal counsel to KVSB. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal counsel to Morgan Stanley and Evercore as placement agents to institutional investors to KVSB.