One of the property industry’s most senior tech pioneers has been hired by fast-growing data firm TwentcyCI to be its non-exec chairman.

59-year-old Mark Witherspoon has brought on board to help the Milton Keynes-based company achieve the next phase of its growth.

TwentyCI has attracted attention for producing reports about Purplebricks backing up the hybrid agency’s claim that it sold homes faster than the top ten traditional agents.

During the noughties Witherspoon was one of the pioneers of the automatic valuation model (AVM) technology that many estate agents now use to generate leads, banks use to complete mortgage valuations and property portals employ to create house price indexes.

30-year career

Witherspoon first worked for a company backed by three UK mortgage lenders and Countrywide that led the AVM field before moving to Hometrack, which uses the technology to drive much of its business.

After a spell as its CEO he then moved to another AVM company, CoreLogic, before joining Zoopla as its Data Services Director.

Since then he has been collecting a range of non-exec advisory roles including working for an online property auction site called BidX1, a commercial lease valuation company, a fund manager specialising in residential property and a tenant referencing platform, among others.

Ian Lancaster, founder and CEO of TwentyCI, says: “Attracting Mark to the team was a considerable coup and a reflection of how far TwentyCi has come in just six years.”
TwentyCI also owns blockchain-based conveyancing platform ViewMyChain and produces a quarterly National Property & Homeowner Report.