Strike joins tech accelerator program saying ‘we’re not an estate agency’
Fast-growing hybrid agency joins prestigious Tech Nation Future Fifty programme that backed Zoopla.
Estate agency Strike has joined a leading tech growth programme, joining several household names including Monzo, Deliveroo, Zoopla who have in the past been helped to become successful.
Strike, which has caused controversy within the estate agency sector by selling homes for free but making money via mortgage and other up-sells, is joining Tech Nation’s Future Fifty programme.
It joins this year’s list of member companies which include Alex Chesterman’s car selling platform Cazoo and also map locator programme what3words.
Strike’s selection comes off the back of a recent £11 million funding round and a claimed jump in market share in the North of England, where its sell-for-free-model ‘continues to grow and thrive’.
Strike, formerly knows as Housesimple, launched in Yorkshire and the North West in June 2019, followed by Nottingham and the North East in 2020.
More recently the company expanded into the central region and has announced plans to go national by early 2022.
It recently announced reaching a milestone of £5 billion worth of property sales.
Sam Mitchell, CEO of Strike (pictured, top), says: “We’ve always had a powerful, disruptive ambition and viewed ourselves as a tech company first — and our inclusion in Tech Nation’s Future Fifty programme is recognition of that.
“We’re excited to follow in the footsteps of so many other innovative and ground-breaking companies who have changed the way we think and live. Just like them, we’ve never been afraid to disrupt the industry we’re in and we believe it is one that it is long over-due some changes.”
Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech Nation, said: “The companies selected to join this year’s Future Fifty programme are a shining example of the UK’s entrepreneurship, innovation and resilience.
“Based across the UK, nurturing the growth of these scaling late-stage tech companies is critical to future proofing the UK’s economy.”
The Estate Agency sector has never been afraid of “disruption” because there’s very few that are capable of true disruption. When the job is creative, reading intentions and emotions, tech can’t cope. No matter the fee.
Looking at the recent financials of Strike and its ability to burn through multi millions with little sign of ever obtaining an EBITDA rating (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and the fact like many online models which bit the dust in the past, as they had only the thinnest veneer of tech, I am genuinely amazed that Tech Nation which is hugely sponsored by Government funding has decided to allow them on the programme.
Strike’s freemium model, based upon referral income, is in no way a tech business based upon AI and ML, which Tech Nation itself states are, ‘now key foundations for many new platforms; in fact, in Europe 378 deals were completed within ‘Big Data’ companies in 2020, and 91% used AI and ML. The other vital technologies for innovation are robotics and drones; augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR); Internet of Things (IoT); and blockchain and cryptocurrency’.
My whole life’s work is immersed in tech startups, scale ups and increasingly tech companies on their exit journey, and it is the innovation at the base tech level that adds the value to the end client and the business. Endless rounds of cash injections to support projects that have a fundimentally flawed MVP, with little capital investment in ground breaking tech are never going to scale up.