The amount of money raised by property industry start-ups pitching on the UK’s two key crowdfunding platforms has increased dramatically this year when compared to 2017, The Negotiator can reveal.

Property companies have so far raised £17.4 million on Seedrs.com and Crowdcube.com, an almost five-fold increase on last year’s fund raising of £3.83 million.

The huge increase in crowdfunding has included several high-profile pitches from online estate agent Doorsteps.co.uk which in September raised £914,230 compared to £395,480 last year, both on Crowdcube.

Also, eMoov raised £1.84 million in July and Airbnb management platform Airsorted raised £7.19 million in March.

Crowdfunding rush

Other companies successfully raising funds have included property investment funds, proptech companies, and both hybrid and online agents including Howsy, Vesper Homes, SPCE and BrightLet, whose crowdfunding effort has yet to close but has raised £52,012 so far.

A company specialising in house raffles recently raised £268,200 on Seedrs, on which proptech firm MoveBubble also raised £825,000 and tenant lettings finding service Urban Collective raised £282,871.

Not all crowdfunding efforts are serious. On Crowdfunder.co.uk which is a more social and personal crowdfunding platform, a pop band called The Wharves recently raised £1,087 after damaging a Mercedes car owned by an estate agent in London.

Who has raised what during 2018?

British Pearl £2m
Emoov – £1.84m
Propity – £389k
Viewber – £245k
Housers – £40k
LandlordInvest – £300k
Raffle House – £260k
Urban Collective – £282
Movebubble – £824k
Airsorted – £7.2 million
Infabode – £760k
Howsy – £686k
Crowd Property – £874k
Vesper Homes – £121k
SPCE – £274k
Brightlet – £52k
BrickOwner – £176k