Brickowner hits £1m milestone through crowdfunding platform

PropTech start-up Brickowner has reached a £1 million milestone through its platform via crowdfunding, just a year after launching.

According to Brickowner, its business model of partnering with established property managers who provide better investments across a broad range of property sectors has been the primary contributing factor for its success.

Fred Bristol, founder and chief executive officer of Brickowner, said the quality of investments and investors come first, with crowdfunding and PropTech elements the main tools used for source funding.

“Brickowner’s primary aim is to offer the best investments from established property managers that until now have only been available to larger investors of £25,000 upwards,” he said.

Current market conditions have helped to boost the success of the firm, with low returns on buy-to-let and both flat and decreasing property prices in the UK leading investors to look for new property investment opportunities.

“Investors can no longer simply rely on property price increases to make a profit,” Bristol continued. “The track record of Coyne Group – the property developers currently partnering with Brickowner – have an average return of 42.3% on its developments since 2015 speaks for itself.”

The start-up has also been recognised within the Prop Tech industry, having recently been nominated for Crowdfunding Platform of the Year at the Property Wire Awards.

Brickowner is now looking to open for a ‘Series A’ round of funding later this year. Bristol’s outlook on the PropTech and Alt Finance markets remains positive, stating that crowdfunding has ‘democratised the property investment landscape’.

“Even doubters now acknowledge that the market has changed irrevocably and many PropTech start-ups are here to say,” he said.

“The next two years will be when PropTech and Alt Finance start-ups move into the mainstream and challenge the dominance of the traditional market leaders.”