BREAKING PROPERTY NEWS – 24/02/2022
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
Findingaplace exceeds crowdfunding target, raising over £310,000
As well as helping property technology founders grow and sell their SMEs, and helping companies in property-adjacent sectors with digital transformation, I also invest in start-ups.
Recently, I was on a call with a founder of a proptech where they explained their business model. We also met in person at The Negotiator expo in Park Lane last December. After those two meetings, I decided to invest some of my and Zara’s capital.
I’m really pleased to announce that Mike Savva, CEO and founder of Findingaplace, has not only hit his target figure when he looked to get funding on a peer to peer basis, but smashed through and achieved more than a 20% uptick.
Findingaplace, the London-based SaaS proptech company that brings tenants and agents together to improve the property search experience has successfully broken its £250k Seedrs crowdfunding target, raising over £310k from more than 350 investors.
Known as the matchmakers of the rental property market, Findingaplace is looking to improve the UX in the rental process for both renters and estate agents by eradicating the need for renters to search for properties at all.
Two-thirds of the capital raised will go towards growing the team as well as raising consumer awareness, with the remaining funding directed towards platform development to further enhance both the customer journey as well as agency partner features.
With the platform having launched in London last spring, the funding will play a crucial role in supporting the company’s ambitions to invest in the platform as well as expand both nationally and internationally over the medium and long term.
Findingaplace has ambitions to scale follow a breakthrough first nine months for the company. Over 22,000 tenants have registered and been connected to hundreds of agent partners throughout London, including household names such as Winkworth, Benham & Reeves, Belvoir, and Fine & Country to name just a few.
Research conducted by Findingaplace shows two-thirds of tenant applicants are unhappy with the rental search process, spending an average of 20+ hours searching. Interestingly, three-quarters of agents also expressed frustration due to high costs, reliance on portals and the time-consuming process of screening potential tenants.
Mike Savva, Founder of Findingaplace, said: “We’re thrilled to have not only reached – but far exceeded our funding target, validating our longstanding belief that there is better way to connect tenants and agents together.
“We all know how tough the London rental market is and Findingaplace simplifies the process, ultimately helping more renters find their dream home whilst also making our agent partners stand out ahead of the competition to prospective landlords and retain more revenue.
“More new property portals aren’t the answer to the disappointment renters experience; in-fact the increasing number of portals actually exasperates the issue. Renters are looking for an alternative and smarter way. Findingaplace is their solution.”
Starberry CEO outlines the importance of nurturing estate agency leads
According to Starberry, one of the UK’s largest providers of retail agency website and lead generation technology, estate agents experience the best lead-generating results over extended periods of time. What this means is that they need a consistent, automated approach.
Winner of the Best Large Supplier EA Masters 2021 award, Starberry is a global digital agency specialising in brand strategy, web design and digital marketing for estate agents, new homes developers, and the proptech industry in the UK and internationally. Their mission is to ‘Create Awesomeness and Deliver Results’, aiming to be the number one lead generation powerhouse for the property industry.
While every estate agency wants to consistently generate new leads, if those leads are not managed in the right way and nurtured correctly, the likelihood is that the estate agent will lose the leads as quickly as they got them.
Ben Sellers, Co-Founder and CEO of Starberry, which is now part of the nurtur.group says: “Around 55% of leads received don’t actually make it into CRM, which highlights the importance of having a process in place to nurture leads and take them along the right path.
“Many buyers might be in the initial stages of shopping for a property and may not be ready to commit, however, if the agent manages those leads in the right way and keeps contact with the person throughout the process, the percentage of converting that lead into business grows exponentially. Lead generation isn’t simply a moment, but rather a journey.”
The nurtur.group delivers technology services to the property industry through brands such as Starberry (a digital lead generation powerhouse), The Guild of Property Professionals (its membership organisation) and its global premium estate agency brand Fine & Country.
He adds, “it is important for estate agents to stay committed to nurturing the needs of their leads over time, and not just at the start. A solid process should be established to ensure that leads are managed at every touchpoint. Creating a journey and content that caters to varying needs, will prevent leads coming out of portals and straight into an inactive database. Ideally, the process should be strategically supported by automations that do not leave any lead unanswered.
“Automated email series and newsletters, keep leads engaged, in turn maintaining that relationship for conversion. Moreover, with automations – especially those supported by products such as LeadPro, estate agents can avoid annoying consumers with spam and only target them with segmented emailing.”
Sellers says that automation taps into the nurturing even more when recognising that every lead can have multiple personae.
“An obstacle faced by estate agents, is that a single lead could have the needs of a tenant, landlord or someone simply enquiring into the industry, and automations allow for the segmented marketing that jumps this hurdle. A digital integrated marketing tool will help agents to manage incoming leads, and more importantly nurture the leads.
“Management is simplified as qualifications of leads are tracked across all external portals. Key information such as who the lead is, the properties browsed and the websites, as well as portals they’ve come from, heavily support future remarketing,” he comments.
Sellers concludes: “Having a better understanding of the lead and a process in place that can nurture that lead will ensure that more leads are converted, helping agents to increase their revenue and grow their market share.”
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