Compass is launching a technology campus in Seattle geared toward building “real estate’s first-ever end-to-end platform,” and plans to hire at least 100 engineers.

The SoftBank-backed brokerage, which has been in expansion mode, announced the West Coast Product & Engineering Campus in a Facebook post this week, according to Geekwire. The move came about two weeks after Compass brought on former Microsoft and Amazon executive Joseph Sirosh as its new chief technology officer.

The firm’s Seattle office, at co-working space Industrious, will house company engineers. They will work on marketing technology, web and mobile, security, image and artificial intelligence, with a focus on enhancing Compass’ existing agent platform, Geekwire reported.

Compass, which has been expanding quickly across the country, also leased more space in downtown Seattle. It will end the year with 150 offices, after starting with 30. But next year, Compass plans to have 300 offices. It raised $400 million from Softbank and Qatar Investment Authority in September, which valued the brokerage at $4.4 billion. The Seattle campus is the company’s first tech hub outside its New York City headquarters. That means Compass is now knocking on the door of Redfin and Zillow, both based in Seattle.

 

[Geekwire] — Katherine Kallergis