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eMoov completes GBP2.6m crowdfunding campaign

eMoov, the online UK estate agency, is celebrating a successful crowdfunding campaign after raising GBP2,615,530, more than two and half times its target.

eMoov launched the six-week fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube on 1 September and had initially targeted GBP1m for 5% equity in the company.
 
The figure achieved by eMoov was Crowdcube’s highest share equity raise for a property tech business and the second highest for a tech company behind JustPark who raised GBP3.7m in March.
 
With investments ranging from GBP10 to GBP500,000, money was raised from 795 individual investors, including VC investment from Episode 1 Ventures, Maxfield Capital Partners and Swiss firm Startive Ventures, as well as from the London-based accelerator Seedcamp.
 
Episode 1 and Maxfield Capital were both part of a multi-million pound fundraising earlier this year, which also included Seedcamp. Since eMoov first sought investment in 2013, when it received seed funding from James Caan, the company’s turnover has increased from GBP 965,619 to an estimated GBP1.8m for the year end. eMoov is forecasting turnover in 2018 to be in excess of GBP39m largely driven by growth in the online sector, a new lettings proposition, upselling and global expansion. A further raise is planned in early 2016 with an IPO or private sale anticipated in the next few years.
 
Russell Quirk, CEO and Founder of eMoov, says: “We have been taken back by how well our crowdfunding campaign has gone. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that we would get to GBP2.5m, two and a half times our target. It is an exciting time for online estate agencies with significant investment coming into the sector. We will continue to have the best tech platform and the best customer service in our sector and will push online estate agency to over 50 per cent of the market by 2020.
 
 “On a personal note, I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who assisted with the campaign and to all those who invested. With this investment, our ultimate goal is to realise value for our 700 plus shareholders.” 
 
Simon Murdoch (pictured), Managing Partner at Episode 1, says: “Estate agency is one of the last industries to be disrupted by technology. The benefit of that disruption will be a fairer cost for the consumer, greater transparency and a customer empowerment that simply doesn’t exist when selling property in the UK currently. Episode 1 invested in the team at eMoov because we believe that it has the best approach to succeed and win, in a sector that will achieve an estimated 50% market share by 2020.”  

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