Online estate agent secures another £1.2 million in funding

Online estate agency Settled has raised £1.2 million in funding to further develop its product.

Settled describes itself as a 'powerful digital alternative' to estate agents and claims to have sold £250 million worth of homes. The funding round was led by Venture Capitalists Connect Ventures and Piton Capital.

Settled claims to have saved sellers over £5 million in fees and says it saves the average vendor over £5,000.

Estate Agent Today asked Settled how it calculated these figures. 

The firm says it is using an average estate agency fee of 1.8% + VAT as quoted on the HomeOwners Alliance website.

Settled then bases its savings claims on its own average property listing price - £288,000 - calculating an average UK fee of £5,837.

It then deducts its own up-front fee to get to the savings figure of £5,000+.

Almost a year ago, Settled announced it had succeeded in its bid to raise £1 million - with one cash injection coming from a Silicon Valley firm.

Vendors can instruct Settled to market their property for £499 (paid up-front or deferred by a month), a figure which has increased from the £299 quoted in July 2016.

“We’re passionate about creating platforms and technologies which empower a new and growing segment of consumers who simply want buying and selling homes to be more straightforward, modern and digital," says Gemma Young, Settled's chief executive and co-founder.

"We all strive to own our own home and to move along the property ladder but we tend to dread the processes we have to go through to get there."

"We’re focused on tackling the problems; creating a next-level approach to buying and selling homes which will help everyone feel more ‘Settled’," adds Young, who was named as one of the UK's leading female entrepreneurs aged under 35 by The Sunday Times.

A partner at investing firm Connect Ventures, Sitar Teli, says he thinks Settled will ‘shape next-generation transaction models in property’.