Online estate agency business love2move says it has secured private backing and is now looking to expand its white-label offering to high street agents who might want to offer an online option.
The business pulled its crowdfunding round last month, saying it had the prospect of angel backing.
The business now says it has had a substantial cash injection from angel investor Gary Dewhurst, and that the company is now seeking “like-minded, forward thinking estate agents who want to increase their profitability and add an additional revenue stream to their business”.
Love2move has not quantified the new investment from millionaire Dewhurst.
Founded in February 2017 by traditional estate agent owners Georgina Cox and Mark Worrall, love2move says it seeks to protect the values of a traditional agency whilst appealing to today’s generation and satisfying the requirements of those who prefer to do business online.
It is marketed as a complementary offering, operating alongside the traditional agency and providing vendors with the best of both worlds if they choose to sell their property online.
Love2move had looked for financial investment via Crowdcube to accelerate national expansion and strengthen the existing network of 21 offices, but withdrew from the campaign following an approach from entrepreneur Gary Dewhurst.
Dewhurst launched Gap Personnel Group in 1997 and grew it to one of the top five independent recruitment agencies, before selling 75% of his shareholding to Japanese company TrustTech for £20m.
He now invests in a range of entrepreneurial companies, with love2move being his first foray into the property market.
Dewhurst said: “This is an exciting new sector for me to be involved in.
“I was alerted to this opportunity via a respected property professional and was impressed by the rationale and growth potential of love2move.”
Dewhurst’s business associate Kourosh Mehrabani, a former corporate finance advisory partner at Deloitte, will also join the love2move board.
Dewhurst said: “With his extensive experience of assisting private businesses to enhance their value and market share, I am sure that Kourosh’s presence on the love2move board will add tremendous value in helping the team achieve their ambitious growth plans.”
love2move is waiving the joining fee for agents wishing to join the network. Only one agent can operate under the love2move brand within an agreed geographical area, which normally costs £1,000 to secure.
Worrall said: “Until the end of April we are offering agents the opportunity to go online via https://agent.love2move.co.uk/reserve-your-area-today and secure their patch for free, guaranteeing exclusivity.”
CEO Georgina Cox added: “Love2move has been created by agents for agents and we’re really excited to have secured this funding from such a respected entrepreneur. We are looking forward to working closely with Gary and Kourosh as we drive the business forward.”
Feel sorry for Gary Dewhurst, he obviously hasn’t worked out that these FSBO/DIY are not profitable.
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Agents aren’t Interested in this model. We charge high fees (still nothing compared to rest of world) to survive.
The online model has proved , the numbers simply aren’t there. Bricks only makes 3k a month tops from every area they operate. That doesn’t even pay for rightmove and a negotiator.
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I don’t see the point of this, I just visited one of their agents who uses their services, I was expecting a white label system or something that fitted with the agents website, instead it just says ‘We’ve teamed up with Love2move, I would be inclined then just to go to Love2move’s website and signup direct.
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Why do they need money from anyone else if they had £20m sloshing around? Why give someone a share of your business if you know its going to work?
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Which £20m was that?
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Another spinning enterprise of getting their hands on someone else’s money to live off (investor and agents). No market … short life span.
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