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The return of proptech pioneer, Grenville Turner

The ex-CEO of Countrywide and founder director of Rightmove has been appointed to chairman of the board of digital property auction platform BidX1.

The Negotiator

One of the UK’s most experienced innovators and agency giants, Grenville Turner is back in the proptech fray.

He has been appointed to the post of Chairperson of the Board at BidX1, the digital property auctions platform. Turner was formerly CEO of Countrywide, a Founding Director of Rightmove and a past director of Zoopla.

Turner has over 40 years of experience in retail banking, the property sector, and online businesses. He was CEO of Countrywide, the UK’s largest estate agency, from 2007 to 2014, during which time he took the Group private and subsequently oversaw its return to the public market in 2013 as part of a £1bn+ IPO.

BidX1 is a digital platform which connects users across the globe with real estate investment opportunities in five markets and enables them to complete the entire transaction online. It was first established in Dublin in 2011, where it held large-scale auction events for several years before transitioning to a digital model in 2015.

BidX1 entered the UK market in 2018 with the acquisition of auctioneering firm Andrews & Robertson and has since expanded into Spain, South Africa, and Cyprus. The firm’s digital approach to property sales has proven popular with buyers and sellers across Europe; BidX1 has sold over 14,000 properties to date, equating to a Gross Transaction Value of over €2.8 billion. Turner’s appointment as Chairman comes as BidX1 gears up for another phase of growth.

A highly experienced leader, Turner is currently Non-Executive Chairman of YOPA.”

A highly experienced leader, Turner is currently Non-Executive Chairman of YOPA, the hybrid online estate agent, where he has overseen a strategy that has resulted in YOPA increasing its share of listings nationally and boosted revenue by 38%.

BidX1 offers both residential and commercial properties on its platform, across a broad range of asset types, which attracted more than 1.5 million visitors last year. While the make-up of buyers varies by market, the wide range of investment opportunities offered, coupled with a fully digital process, has made BidX1 popular with small-to-medium investors: more than 30% of those who purchased a property through the platform last year were repeat buyers.

Grenville’s perspective will be invaluable as we seek to identify new opportunities in existing and new markets.”

Michael Murphy, Chief Executive Officer at BidX1, commented, “Growth in Southern Europe is a near-term priority for BidX1 while in more established markets we will be focused on building strategic partnerships, as well as rolling out adjacent products and services to our buyers and sellers. Grenville’s perspective will be invaluable as we seek to identify new opportunities in existing and new markets and continue to scale our platform.”

Grenville Turner said, “BidX1’s growth trajectory has been impressive and that growth is underpinned by equally impressive fundamentals: an experienced management team, deep property sector expertise and a digital-first model which puts transparency, efficiency and user-experience at its core.”

April 21, 2022

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