DN Capital and Paul Pindar, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Capita, have led a multi-million pound investment in estate agency business Purplebricks.com.
DN Capital, the UK-based technology fund with investments including Shazam, and Pindar were joined in the investment by Martin Bolland.
Purplebricks.com, the brainchild of brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce who have prior experience building and exiting UK estate agencies, is a fully interactive, round the clock property platform allowing people to oversee every aspect of their transaction as it happens, at the touch of a button, rather than waiting for an estate agent’s office to open. There is also full time dedicated support from a team of experienced local property experts.
Customers selling their property can book a free valuation, provided by a Purplebricks local property expert, before paying a fixed fee of GBP599 incl VAT, which includes a written description, floor plans, professional photographs and a listing on all major property websites including Rightmove, Zoopla and Prime Location. The average UK high street estate agent’s commission is 1.8 per cent, which results in an average charge for the seller of over GBP5,600.
Purplebricks will launch in April 2014, following two years of development.
Will Whitehorn, former brand development and corporate affairs director for the Virgin Group for over 20 years and president of Virgin Galactic, joined the board a year ago alongside full time Purplebricks advertising and marketing director James Kydd, the former MD brand and marketing at Virgin Media. DN Capital managing partner Nenad Marovac will also join the Purplebricks board of directors.
Michael Bruce says: “Now the development and fundraising phase is complete, we are delighted to unveil Purplebricks.com. The traditional estate agency model has been left untouched for too long and is now completely outdated; we have developed, with significant input from sellers, buyers and landlords, a sophisticated yet simple to use software platform that will guarantee customers a much better experience at a fraction of the cost of high street agents.”
Marovac says: “At DN Capital we are constantly looking to identify the next breakthrough UK technology companies. We believe that in Purplebricks.com we have found a game-changing proposition that will resonate deeply with UK property sellers and buyers.
“We are very impressed with what Michael and Kenny Bruce have built so far, and are looking forward to bringing our technology experience to help build a significant business.”
