Controversial online estate agency eMoov is on the verge of successfully raising £1m through crowdfunding - and may even hit the target today.
By last evening the pitch by eMoov on the Crowdcube platform was well over £950,000 with over a week to go in its time-limited fund-raising campaign.
“Investment funding has provided much need capital which has fuelled our growth to date. We have plans for a further raise in early 2016, with an IPO or private sale anticipated thereafter” says Russell Quirk, eMoov's chief executive and founder.
This is not the first time eMoov has achieved high-profile fund-raising.
At the start of 2015 it raised over £2m including investment from Simon Murdoch’s venture capital firm Episode 1. Back in December 2013 it received seed funding from the former TV dragon James Caan.
Quirk maintains that the Crowdcube success suggests his agency is in total valued at around £20m - a figure that has raised eyebrows amongst high street rivals.
In a magazine interview Quirk has justified the valuation by saying that as his agency is a "disruptive business" it has what he calls "aspirational value”.
This is because he contends that by 2020 - when he believes online agency will constitute 50 per cent of the house sales and lettings business - there will be only four or five major online agencies still operating.
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Well they made it...Can't deny that £1m is a lot to raise in a short period of time, there must be some investors who truly believe in this model. As others have said before and elsewhere, the million is made up of some hefty individual investments, presumably from Caan and his cronies, but a million is a million. Now we must await the press release regarding the 'stock market float' with bated breath!
Yes, I'm begrudgingly impressed. To be fair, despite his constant grandstanding and sniping, Mr Quirk knows what he's doing when it comes to the property world and particularly when it comes to PR. Then again, if James Caan is involved - the former Dragon with serious personal wealth - then the £1m becomes slightly less impressive.
Fair play, but a no doubt huge investment from Mr Caan slightly skews things. I agree with Fake, though. He might come across as objectionable at times, but I think it's largely an act and he clearly knows what he's doing. There is a reason why they are the online agency that everyone has heard of, so hats off to him for that!
It's impressive to say the least, I bet Mr Quirk is rather pleased with himself. But claiming the agency is valued at £20m, that's just absurd.
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