Hybrid estate agency with purple ambitions raises £750,000 ahead of Seedrs launch
Nu:move is owned by a profitable investment platform group and hopes to raise several million pounds to expand from 20 to 100 franchisees across the UK.
The parent company of growing hybrid estate agency nu:move has raised £750,000 to fund its expansion prior to the company’s official crowdfunding launch on Seedrs in a few days’ time.
The money, which has come from investors pre-registering to invest in the company, will be used to grow its franchise network from around 20 representatives to in excess of 100.
Nu:move’s business model and sales pitch is very similar to Purplebricks’ but, unlike its hybrid counterpart, investors are to be given shares in the profitable parent group that owns the agency, rather than in nu:move itself.
Until 2013 Nu Move Group’s key activity was running Nu:1 Capital, a profitable investment platform for new-build student accommodation, buy-to-let and fractional ownership property in the UK and overseas. It has several high-profile clients including Knight Frank, Damac, Emaar, DRW, Select Group and Alliance Investments to name a few.
But although it’s been operating the company’s hybrid agency for seven years, it has only recently begun growing the business aggressively and last year it won a Bronze Negotiator award.
Hybrid estate agency
“We’ve stood back from developing our hybrid agency as we’ve watched much of the competition knock themselves out, but we feel that now is the time to go for it,” Nu Move Group chairman TJ Singh tells The Negotiator.
It is offering opportunities to become both territory-based franchisees and associates of nu:move, a network that will be controlled through a regional management structure.
Each of the franchises cost between £4,000 and £10,000 depending on how many ‘chimneys’ they cover and then £215 a month for access to admin, training, systems and support.
Nu:move was founded by identical twin brothers Aran and Karan Batth while studying for degrees at King’s College London and Cambridge, along with family members Kim and Pam ( all pictured, top).
Visit the franchise site: www.nu-movefranchise.co.uk and nu:move site: www.nu-move.co.uk
Dear Andrew,
Both traditional and online estate agents have felt the impact of Brexit on the property sector, now post Brexit the property sector is showing positive signs and there is a significant rise in buyer and seller activity.
nu:move is already a successful and profitable hybrid online estate agency and has been successfully running for over seven years. Our hybrid model is unique and we agree that the hybrid model is the future of online estate agency. By the way good luck in your search for a £1,200 a per day consultancy job.
Let me see – How many online agents who have ever made a profit – NONE. How many have ceased trading? Lots.
Why do they cease trading? Run out of money. Where does money come from to fund them? Crowd funding, and more crowd funding, and private investors and if you are a big company the alternative investment market, maybe blue chip companies.
Surely there must be one online agent who has made a profit … tepilo – no – gone, emoov – no – gone, hatched – no -gone, u-pad – no -gone, the list goes on … emoov 2 – no profit yet, doorsteps – no profit yet, Purplebricks – no profit yet [it claims to now be profitable – Ed], Yopa – no profit yet, Housesimple – no profit yet and now a free service, easyproperty – original model – failed – new version in place.
The only person who makes money when a hybrid or onliner sets up is – crowdfunder who takes a cut of money raised, property portals who list stock, and google and facebook etc who take lots of many advertising the projects. Last on the list is the customer experience.
If you want a hybrid model that works – employ me £1,200 a day consultancy – I can build a successful model, and the fee structure would be – cost to run the business plus 23% gross profit. And it would be a service that vendors and landlords and other clients would love.
Not – let us cut out the expensive bits – offices etc -because in fact online/hybrids cost more to run than offices on the high street. Funded by – previous years profits – not continuous handouts. Proptech-PR.com