Emoov
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Agencies & People
eMoov’s crowdfunding campaign raises £2.6m
eMoov has raised just over £2.6 million, more than two and half times its target, after attracting 795 individual investors through crowdfunding on Crowdcube. Among the major investors were two venture capital groups, Episode 1 Ventures and Maxfield Capital Partners, which both increased their investment in the online estate agency, while Swiss VC firm Startive Ventures also joined in the funding round. Alexander Lazarev, Partner at Maxfield Capital Partners, said, “eMoov’s crowdfunding success is a clear indication of a long awaited transformation of an old-fashioned industry. eMoov disrupts estate agency by providing significant savings and high quality customer services. “I am glad that crowdfunding investors have recognized this unique opportunity and contributed their capital to eMoov.” Episode 1 and Maxfield Capital have contributed £500,000 and £300,000 respectively, with Startive investing £250,000. In addition, London-based accelerator Seedcamp has also reinvested with £50,000. “We have made unbelievable progress over the last 24 months and this smart money demonstrates the confidence that the professionals have in our business,” said Russell Quirk, CEO and Founder of eMoov. Episode 1’s Managing Partner, Simon Murdoch, was an early stage investor in Zoopla, Betfair, Shutl and LOVEFiLM, and now he believes that the estate agency industry is…
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Agencies & People
Bad week for online agent
Online estate agent eMoov is under pressure for making unsubstantiated and misleading claims to home sellers over fees and asking prices, while their lodged complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) against OnTheMarket (OTM) will not be followed up by the regulator. The CMA took over many of the functions of the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading last year. Having investigated claims made by eMoov in an advert that its sales performance last year resulted in 99 per cent of the asking price being achieved for its clients compared to the national average of 96 per cent, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) concluded that that the statements were unsubstantiated. ASA said that sales data only covered the period of January to September 2014, while no comparable information relating to asking prices achieved by traditional estate agents in London was provided. The online estate agent also claimed that its customers had saved more than £11 million in fees by using its services because its business model depended on it selling a higher proportion of its inventory. But once again, this was panned by the ASA because it was based on the average fee its customers paid instead…
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Features
Online and on the ball
Christopher Walkey, CEO of Marketme, looks at some of the trendsetters in social media.
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