easyProperty has raised just over £800,000 from investors including Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Just over five years after raising £25m investment from hedge fund Toscafund, the online agency has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, which has attracted £806,000.
Haji-Ioannou, who contributed £300,000 to the fundraising on Seedr, said: “It offers local expertise and low-cost professionalism to take the hassle and expense out of moving.”
The company, which operates under licence from the easyJet founder, will use the cash to invest in IT improvements and to prepare for expansion.
David Brierley, easyProperty chief executive, wants to introduce around 100 new territories by the end of the year, adding to the 34 currently in operation.
Brierley, who is hoping to attract a number of agents, said: “People are looking for something different from their careers as we emerge from the pandemic. We can train them, support them, give them all the tools they need to do the job and away they go.
“There’s no question the brand opens doors. People know the logo and they seem to like what it stands for.”
Comments (13)
With a current estimated net worth of £1.3Bn…I would imagine Stelio’s ‘investment’ was found down the back of half of one of his sofas!
I understand they hope to get approx 400k from The Future Fund.
This is UK taxpayer money to go into tech companies. This sends out completely the wrong message if its received by this type of business that has had millions behind it, had the Guild (for whatever reason they felt appropriate) back it, whose mission from the outside was to make estate agency and all its employees redundant (when you see their initial advertising bile) and yet they somehow now think they should be entitled to taxpayer money?
When you think you have heard it all…….
I can’t get the hearse image out of my head.
It’s struggling to take-off
EasyProperty is surely the property industries equivalent of a “double flusher” and still, it won’t go away!
there seems to be a parallel universe in this industry where people will invest in stuff that doesn’t work and cannot work and has been proven not to work or meet any of its aims or ambitions but will ignore the obvious route to the same target audience.
80% of this industry is small and medium size agency that enables the platforms the disruptors are wholly reliant on, they subsidise the subscriptions of 20% of the industry who make a profit or greater profit because of that subsidy.
Instead of investing to buy market share why not invest to make an established market share stronger? The yields might be smaller but a stable spread bet with income yield must surely be better than a punt on something that’s been tried before
The website appears to only have 77 properties being marketed throughout the UK. What sort of business is this?
With the name and brand values it sits at the bottom of the market. Which is where Purple Bricks sits, although PB does pretty good marketing and has mahoosive brand awareness. So unless its price I cannot see EasyProp taking the battle to PB. Stelios is a very smart cookie but I wouldn’t follow his investment.
The guys got his head in the clouds if he thinks he can drive the brand to greatness on that pocket change. Having a brand linked to an airline that leaves people stranded at airports and fighting for refunds is not a recipe for success. Too many ways to **** off the consumer who is then a buyer, vendor, renter. My bet is it will reach the end of the runway before takeoff and investors will be left stranded waiting for refunds. 🙂
No copy cat investing will happen here.
Of the £800k raise:
– £344k was from Stelios. He bumped it up throughout the campaign to improve traction.
– There are a few anonymous investors of £10k which are likely to be management team or leadership
– Retail investment made up just £50k of an £800k target. Tells you that on it’s own merits, it’s seen as a poor investment.
– The £800k is conditional on qualifying for the Future Fund, which is not yet confirmed so right now they’ve raised nothing.
The investment is a convertible note with a discount (often called a junk ticket); and with no clear exit (it’s a licenced business for gawd’s sake – there is no exit) people have obviously invested without the need to get a return. Their investment is one way.
And I thought he was a good businessman.
If Stelios is receiving a tidy sum each year for the use of his brand, and he has granted a 25 or 50 licence, it isn’t surprising to see he’s donated towards a failed business that is lining his pockets each year, whether it makes money or not.
All those years, all that money. Surely with 34 high quality active agents the profit made in the last 9 months with the stamp duty bonanza would give a business the profit to expand organically without having to go to investors?