Settled, an online estate agent which was launched a year ago and claims to help vendors cut ‘time to sell’ in half when compared to traditional agents, has won £1.2 million in funding from two venture capital firms.

The backing includes money from Piton Capital, which is already funding two other property companies, Paris-focussed online property information firm MeilleursAgents.com and German removals platform Move24.

Settled was set up by former Google executive Gemma Young with her brother Paul (pictured, right) who has a background in online marketing, in 2014.

Online estate agent

The pair raised seed funding from entrepreneur John Hegarty’s start-ups venture capital firm The Garage Soho, and subsequently picked up £1m from a Silicon Valley venture capital firm – 500 Startups – last year.

Hegarty is one of the three people who set up legendary advertising firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty during the 1980s.

The online estate agent launched last year and at the time said it was aiming to disrupt the UK property buying and selling process by empowering home owners and cut out the middleman.

The company now says it has sold properties worth £250m. It charges £499 to sell a property, a fee that can either be paid up-front or a month after signing up.

This includes photos, portal listings, floorplans, a For Sale sign, online valuation support and viewings management software. Like Purplebricks, vendors do their own viewings.

“We’re passionate about creating platforms and technologies which empower a new and growing segment of consumers who simply want buying and selling homes to be more straightforward, modern and digital,” Gemma told startups.co.uk.

“We all strive to own our own home and to move along the property ladder but we tend to dread the processes we have to go through to get there. We’re focused on tackling the problems; creating a next-level approach to buying and selling homes which will help everyone feel more ‘Settled’.”