Online agent eMoov has reached its £1m crowdfunding target with nine days still to run – and despite its current losses.
Last night it had surpassed its target, with £1,150,920 from over 360 investors.
eMoov founder Russell Quirk told EYE: “This indicates that we will achieve support from over 500 individuals by the time the raise finishes.
“Staff, customers, friends and family have transformed this from a fundraiser into a vote of absolute confidence in eMoov and our sector.
“It’s anyone’s guess as to how high the total will go now.
“I’ve decided not to stop even though we have hit target much earlier than anticipated but to keep advancing until September 30 regardless.”
The pitch values eMoov at £20m, despite its current loss-making.
The original £1m being sought on Crowdcube was in exchange for a 5% stake in the company.
eMoov’s business plan says it has the potential to be valued at £128m.
According to its Crowdcube pitch financial snapshot, it made pre-tax losses last year of £751,941 and expects pre-tax losses this year of £2,003,377. Next year, it expects pre-tax losses of £2,246,717 which will slow to losses of £442,909. In 2018, it anticipates pre-tax profits of £10,681,744.
In its pitch, eMoov says it was founded to “disrupt a broken, anti-consumer property industry” and predicts online market share to reach 50% by 2020.
It says that in July this year, 341 properties received 533 offers, leading to 246 sales, and that 48% of leads convert into listings.
The firm says it would grow listings from a current 3,529 to 40,768 in 2018.
Yesterday, eMoov confirmed that it will embark on a further fund-raising round early next year, with an IPO or private sale anticipated shortly afterwards.
Its current fundraising follows earlier successes by the likes of other online agents Purplebricks, easyProperty and Estates Direct.
Quirk last night said: “Having now reached our target, it’s become evident that some remarkable things have happened in the last three weeks.
“More than a third of our workforce have invested their own money into the business, some as much as £5,000, while existing investors have committed £470,000 so far with more promised. We’ve had bankers invest, VC funds, and PWC accountants from Singapore. Plus a number of industry insiders.
“Most humbling are those close to me, such as one of my best friends who has invested £50,000 and my dad and my brother who have invested £10,000 each.
“When my seven-year old daughter asked me if she could give eMoov her £613 savings, I almost melted.
“Crowdfunding turns out not just to be about raising money, but is a lesson in loyalty, kindred support and trust that I honestly had not expected.”
Comments (27)
Overhead on Galactic airwaves….. it’s a thing Jim, however not as we know it.
Forgive me, but I am at a loss, why on earth do known investors, family, friends, staff and children all feel the need to be putting cash into a firm so soon after the last massive injection and why all being known to Emoov are they going through the comparatively expensive crowd funding route rather than keeping it discreet and private.
I don’t know why but rather than this being a magnificent triumph there is slight whiff of desperation about this. Certainly the financials attached to the pitch indicate a fair old chunk of borrowing so I have to hold my hands up and admit I have not a logical clue what is gong on there.
Its a fantastic concept Robert you have to admit.
Basically the employees families are paying their wages!!!
It is a very unusual way of carrying on!
Does it remind you of those poor people who bought ‘plot sized’ parcels of green belt in the hope of one day getting planning permission? The only people who have made money are the people selling the dodgy investment.
Bragging about taking money from kids and O.A.P’s. Hmmmm……whatever next?
I heard a whisper that famous medium Derek Acorah has confirmed all of Quirkys predictions and apparently there are legions of investors lined up on the ‘other side.’ Whats that I hear- Derek says there is a man/woman wearing blue/red/brown/black and uncle/auntie paddy/vera/jane/russell have a message for you to buy, buy, buy Emoooooooveeeee shares. Oooh I just felt a chill down my spine.
Hopefully (but unlikely) some investors will see a profit before they themselves pass over.
A fool and his money……….
wow t u r d is an expletive!
Hats of to the fella,
Keep managing to raise money for a failing business.
They say you cannot polish a **** but in Emoov’s case they have managed to roll it in glitter!
Comment of the Week for smile please?
When they make their projections I think they overlook the lack of barriers to entry for the on-line business model. There are new on-line agents entering the market each week, which will make it hard for any of them to gain sufficient critical mass to make a profit whilst trying to cover the entire country without any local knowledge. They turn to crowdfunding because banks and private investors probably have more sense than to fund such foolish ‘vanity’ projects. How are they going to differentiate their offering from the other on-line brands? They can’t use location, price is already at rock bottom, service is pretty non-existent so all they have is branding and TV advertising which they will not be able to maintain indefinitely as the on-line market will be spread around too many players for any of them to make those forecasts of £10M profits for 2018! My advice, don’t invest in them unless Peter Jones does.
‘Last night it had surpassed its target, with £1,150,920 from over 360 investors.
eMoov founder Russell Quirk told EYE: “This indicates that we will achieve support from over 500 individuals by the time the raise finishes.” ‘
Hmmm… at £2300 a pop – average taking out the buddy loans (credit: Trevor Gillham) – that should take the total ‘investment’ to just under 1.5 million.
So… will that be a 7.5% share – or will some of the buddies be able to claim back their IOUs and let the poor Numptyfunders take the risk?
There you go, Mr Minion – ‘Disliked’ my own comment so you don’t have to be first…
Thank you for the credit PeeBee, that made me laugh!
Just wishing I had been the first Caveman seeking Estate Agency Investors…. for the time when Cave Dwellers would want to buy and sell their caves…. a missed opportunity!
….as long as the investors didn’t ask how long they would need to live to get a return on their investment!
Very sadly I had an elderly client who was “conned” out of almost £38,000 on the basis that he was “investing” in Carbon Credits? His life savings stolen.
The difference here is people choosing to invest whilst hopefully knowing the facts?
I appreciate all the future potential stuff, losses now, projected profits later…. however I still sit here shaking my head and wondering…. is everything as it seems?
I can make numbers up too, what do I win? I’ll make 1million next year and 500million the year after.
Unless someone has a crystal ball or a time machine all this future stuff is nonsense. The past and the now show huge losses, and they are having to effectively sell off 1million pounds of “value” in their company to even keep trading. Ridiculous anyone would want to invest in that sort of business, other than the stupid and/or filthy rich who can take a gamble.
On a side note, if anyone does have a time machine could they contact me via Ros please 🙂
I left a message for you in a fortnights time, three months ago
The last time someone managed to perform this sort of trick they probably wore a cape and mask. You have to give him credit though. Who else has managed to make a million out of such a rubbish loss making business??Reminds me of the dot com boom and bust.
Surely there should come a point when the financial regulators should protect the naive investors, like the 7 year old girl, from investing their life savings in unsound projects like this!
If Quirk didn’t let his daughter invest, surely that should be a clear enough message for other investors too!
What in God’s name is happening to the world. How can a loss making business of these proportions be valued at anything, never mind £128m. It’s a world gone nuts!! Or as an old neighbour of mine used to say, “It’s a quirky old world”
PurpleBricks, eMoov and Estates Direct! Reminds me of the game, musical chairs! One left when the music stops?
Indeed and I suspect when the music stops the one left will be called PurpleMoovDirect powered by Zoopla and Sponsored by The Telegraph.
ive been watching the amount daily, obviously it was kicked off with a £250k from caan or someone then suddenly it jumped another £150k, I really don’t think it would have made it otherwise without some buddy lending.
SOME ‘buddy lending’???
I reckon that will go down in the history books as a pretty famous understatement, Mr Gillham…
Haha, they say it’s good to laugh lots, Mr Quirk ought to sign up to do Stand Up Comedy. I was wondering if this had been a delayed post from 1st April. £128 million – genius bit of creative accounting.
…without wearing a Balaclava?