More money for proptech: HouseSimple raises £13m from Carphone Warehouse boss
More money is flowing into up and coming property technology (proptech) companies, with the founder of Carphone Warehouse leading a new multimillion pound investment in online estate agent HouseSimple.
Sir Charles Dunstone lead the £13m funding in the firm which ditches the high cost of traditional agency fees, along with his business partner Roger Taylor.
An institutional investor also participated in the round but has not been named, and it brings total funding to £18m, after £5m from Dunstone and Taylor last year.
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"Our homes are our most valued assets, and HouseSimple delivers a fundamentally better service at a fraction of the cost. It’s only a matter of time before everyone realises HouseSimple’s data-led approach can help them sell their homes for more, with less hassle," said Dunstone.
Established estate agent Savills last week backed property startup Yopa, while Aviva put £3m into Opun and Goodlord, which aims to be the Amazon of renting, landed £2m from well known tech investor Robin Klein, among others. Klein was also an early investor in Zoopla.
Purplebricks is one of the most high profile proptech startups to emerge from the UK. Backed by top investor Neil Woodford, the firm floated late last year on the Aim junior market.
Read more: Proptech: Technology is set to transform the housing market
In the first three months of the year proptech funding hit £428m globally with a record 56 deals, according to data from CB Insights. Behind New York and San Francisco, London has recorded the third largest number of proptech deals over the last four years, standing at 19, with property search site Zoopla the second largest exit in the sector after a £1bn IPO in 2014.
HouseSimple founder Alex Gosling said the money would go on growing the business, which claims to have saved users more than £20m to date since it was founded in 2007.
"We are relentlessly focused on delivering the best selling results for our customers, and with this latest funding round we are confident we can increase our selling success rate and achieved selling price even further," he said.