Online estate agency Home Made raises £850K seed at £4.3M post-money valuation

You’d be forgiven for considering that the on-line estate agency market was a done deal in the U.ok., evidenced through a plethora of proptech startups and greater based companies that help you sell your domestic or support you listing and manipulate it for hire. but interestingly not, if one London startup and its new backers are to be believed.

handmade, which is focused completely on London lettings for properties in the £500,000-plus latitude, has raised £850,000 in seed funding. The round is led by inner most fairness company Tethys equity and is asserted to supply the young enterprise a £4.three million post-funds valuation.

home made claims to be the best estate company within the U.ok. that presents a premium service corresponding to a high-conclusion normal property agent — including accompanied property viewings and working until 10 pm at night, on weekends and financial institution vacations — for a low on-line charge beginning at £948 +VAT.

That referred to, competitor Rentify also occupies a extra upmarket area, however charges a monthly payment and is completely-managed and provides a ‘rent assure’. on the decrease conclusion are startups like Open hire and uPad that operate more of a pile ‘em high, promote ‘em affordable à la carte model with a number of services to assist you hire out your house.

headquartered in 2016 with the aid of Asaf Navot, a former Bain strategy advisor and INSEAD graduate, and Nick Binnington, a former British army Captain and LBS graduate, handmade’s proposition is according to the premise that the letting agent mannequin is broken: “excessive-street brokers offer standard provider and extortionate costs, whereas on-line brokers provided low prices, but even worse provider,” says the startup.

To remedy this, hand-crafted claims to be a brand new estate company working model, one it’s pushed with the aid of information analytics and know-how, with superior efficiencies and lessen charges. a very familar pitch, you may conclude.

in terms of tech, I’m instructed the enterprise has developed a proprietary on-line platform that allows landlords to manage their residences from advertising to move-in. This comprises full handle throughout the marketing section – landlords can add or eliminate advertising photos on the portals, write or enhance current descriptions and alter the cost – and visibility of progress all over tenancy progression.

“in conjunction with the aid of a dedicated account supervisor, this offers a stage of asset management not at present obtainable within the residential letting sector,” a home made spokesperson tells me.

further tech is being developed to make sure the operations aspect of handmade runs smoothly. “Serving landlords all through London from a single hub is operationally complex, increasing exponentially as property numbers raise,” says the startup. “We overcome this by way of giving our income and operations teams entry to a bespoke CRM as well as proprietary planning and route optimisation tools, enabling us to deliver an excellent client experience in a particularly efficient method”.

meanwhile, home made says it’s heading in the right direction to make £1 million in revenues in 2018, with over 1,000 properties rented. an additional online agency within the house that presents a full letting-introduction service is PurpleBricks, which handmade expects to flow next month for number of new residences listed in London.

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Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch