Independent multi-agent property seller Movewise has announced a funding round of £600,000, taking the total amount raised to £1.1 million.
The company, launched in 2018, manages the entire sales process for vendors, leveraging unique data and insight to identify the best local estate agents for a property.
Existing lead investors – Hambro Perks, an early-stage venture fund and Paul Forster, co-founder of Indeed.com – were joined by new angels including Simon Franks, co-founder of LoveFilm that was sold to Amazon for £200 million in 2011.
The business has seen strong growth, listing more than £60 million of UK properties in the past year, with a sales rate of 80% and average time to sell of four months.
The funding will be used to further enhance Movewise’s end-to-end property sales technology platform and expand to the legal and landlord sectors.
Steffen Schwark recently joined as chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the product and development teams, with more than 20 years of experience in building consumer and enterprise software products under his belt.
Commenting on the investment, Tom Scarborough, chief executive officer of Movewise, says: “Our mission is to ensure all property sellers achieve the best price they can for their property.”
“Approximately a third of properties will sell quickly in the first month. Two thirds of properties won’t be so lucky, which is when sole agents revert to price reductions, to the detriment of the vendor.”
New investor, Simon Franks, adds: “I’m excited to be backing the team at Movewise. They provide a core service that is a superior way to sell a property for everyone, and a scalable market position that can digitise property sales with any estate agent in the UK. This is a very exciting solution to a legacy industry.”