In 2017, Court Cunningham and Phil DeGisi founded Perch, a company that acted as a marketplace for buying and selling homes. After starting out on PerchHomes.co, the founders ultimately decided to upgrade to the premium Perch.com name. The venture received plenty of funding, too, with Perch getting $250 million in funding between 2018 and 2019 alone.
However, in early 2020, it seemed like the company had taken a step backward. After raising another $36 million in a Series B funding round, Perch abandoned Perch.com and rebranded to Orchard using OrchardHomes.com. According to an article from PYMENTS.com quoting Court Cunningham, Perch rebranded to Orchard because: “we took the opportunity to rethink our name and choose a brand that reflects the things our customers tell us they love about us: warmth, friendliness, and humanity.”
The company didn’t acquire Orchard.com before their move. They opted for OrchardHomes.com. At the time, Orchard.com was under brokerage at Sedo with a minimum offer value of $100,000, according to Sedo’s marketplace.
By the end of March 2020, Orchard had acquired Orchard.com for an undisclosed fee, using some of its $286 million in total funding to purchase another one-word .COM. So now, Orchard owns Perch.com and Orchard.com.
Update, 19th May 2020: The seller of Orchard.com has also just sold Stash.com!