easyProperty is reported to be in talks to raise around £5m to expand its services.
Reports over the weekend, including one on Sky News, suggested £5m was required to fund the site’s future expansion and additional marketing.
The Sharecast financial investment website has quoted a spokeswoman for easyProperty as saying: "We can confirm easyProperty's CEO Rob Ellice has been undertaking a planned third round of investment talks in line with commercial plans to fund the continued expansion of the growing online estate agency business."
Ellice himself, in an interview with the Property Week publication, says he is keen to launch a residential and commercial property online auction service in the near future.
Documents said to have been circulated among potential investors and seen by Sky News appear to show that easyProperty has an exclusive 20-year agreement with easyGroup - run by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou - which covers any property-related services in the UK.
Earlier this year easyProperty told Estate Agent Today that it also had plans to expand internationally into the United States and Germany, and was at that time consideringjoint ventures to operate online services in Australia and New Zealand.
.png)
.jpg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
%20(002).png)
%20(002).jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Shouldn't they concentrate on getting it right in the UK first? Am I missing something or have they suddenly started selling and letting houses on a massive scale?
They always seem to be expanding and entering different markets, without actually achieving anything first. It's just bizarre.
This does seem very strange. Maybe they are going great guns and we've just not been hearing about it (which would be odd, given how much focus easyProperty place on publicity).
Surely you'd want the business to be thriving in this country before thinking about overseas operations or branching out into other markets. They seem to be putting their eggs in way too many baskets, losing their focus along the way. I'd like to see some actual figures on how well easyProperty are performing. I still haven't seen any actual evidence that they've sold any houses or let out any properties. Can anyone tell me differently?
I found this on another forum.. Respect to the author, I'm not claiming this as my own.. but I agree entirely..
I’ve been reading old EP press releases.. like the one stating he had 12,000 pre-listed properties..(no he didn’t)… like the one saying he would be letting 4000 properties a month by the end of last year..(nowhere near).. the one about the Spurs sponsorship and of course the move into Europe.. they also haven’t happened..!
And whichever way EP dress up their sales figures, its not a pretty picture at EPHQ. They need cash simply to keep going – as operating capital – there won’t be much left to invest on expansion…
EasyProperty need to decide what they are.. a lettings/sales/auction site – and then concentrate on doing it well rather than dabbling.. they talk the talk.. and Ellice doesn’t miss a chance to be an industry spokesman but what they really need are some regular and meaningful sales figures..!
And don’t forget, Ellice was talking originally about a pre-IPO and subsequent flotation and that was supposed to be happening about now.. and instead we have a watered down fundraising exercise to claw in a few million to spend on operating costs..
So why not the IPO?
Because a company seeking to float needs the support of a bank/financial house to create the flotation prospectus.. and the company comes under close financial scrutiny… and frankly, EPs dismal sales figures WILL NOT BEAR CLOSE SCRUTINY.
So, another of Ellice’s promises have blown with the wind.. and a simpler fundraising round like before will negate the need to fully disclose the company’s actual financial position, leaving unsuspecting punters with promises of gold but give them buckets of ****.
Ellice’s best mate and co-director in several ‘enterprises’ together is Kingsley Wilson of Crystal Capital.. who better to disguise a struggling business and put together an attractive proposal for unsuspecting punters.
You need a story to go to investors to get money.
A story about expanding sales or lettings against modest numbers thus far wont wash. So forget what's happened and focus another story about something else shiny that they can't be judged against, because it's not launched.
P & L accounts? Who needs one when you've got a story :-)
Please login to comment