Emoov's 'final' crowdfunding tops £1.5m with two weeks left to run

Emoov’s latest crowdfunding campaign has now gone well over £1.5m, making it already 50 per cent over-funded already from its original £1m target, with some 16 days to run.

The agency, which last month announced that it had merged with Tepilo and lettings operator Urban, has described this latest crowdfunding raise as “a final chance” for investors to put their money into the company before a likely Initial Public Offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2019.

So far 600 investors have put money in, with investment amounts from £10 to £500,000 and the majority between £1,000 and £10,000. 

“With more than 1,500 people invested in the Emoovment [in total], we have created a movement across the estate agency sector. We are delighted to have such an impressive list of investors behind our quest to improve the home buying and selling process forever” says the agency’s chief executive Russell Quirk.

In answers to questions from potential investors, posted on the crowdfunding site, some interesting background about Emoov has emerged.

For example, it says all of its 30-plus Local Property Agents located around the country have at least three years agency experience, mainly with High Street firms but also with Purplebricks and Yopa. “They are CRB checked and undertake an extensive training and induction programme before visiting their first Emoov property. Training and compliance testing is ongoing thereafter.”

On the level of over-funding achieved by the latest successful fundraise, Emoov says it will be used “predominantly for marketing so that we can grow bigger faster.”

Emoov chief executive Russell Quirk also uses the crowdfunding Q&A to defend rival Purplebricks against its detractors who, in response to the recent figures released by the firm, claimed it made losses. 

“The loss is a misnomer” explains Quirk. “Their top line revenue has grown (especially in Australia where it's up 300% or so). UK revenue is up 81%. Revenue per listing is up by around 9%. If PB had not rolled out in the US and Australia (and now Canada this week) they would have posted a PROFIT of £8m.”

Emoov previously held a crowdfunding round in 2015 via Crowdcube - the same platform being used today. Three years ago the £1m raise target was vastly exceeded and £2.6m was raised. 

However, Quirk has confirmed that the latest crowdfunding exercise will be the last. 

“We love Crowdcube however this will be the last crowdfunding round as future raises will be via big ticket institutional investors” he says.

The crowdfunding campaign can be seen here.