Online agent lays off 20% of workforce months after raising £120m in latest funding round

Nested, the online firm that says it is re-inventing estate agency by helping people buy their next home before selling their own, has reportedly laid off 20% of its workforce.

It is said to have let 15 staff go, according to publication TechCrunch.

It quoted founder and CEO Matt Robinson, who confirmed the departures, as saying: “We have come off a record year and quarter, but with continued uncertainty around Brexit market volumes have fallen significantly.

“We will continue to grow share; however, given the external environment we must remain cautious as we build the business for the coming years.”

Nested’s model provides home sellers with certainty that they can move.

It guarantees to sell a home for a certain amount.

If it fails to do so within 30 days, then it offers sellers an advance of around 95% of their property, making vendors chain-free.

If it cannot offer an advance, then sellers are free to disinstruct Nested and receive £1,000 cash by way of an apology, or continue to list at 1% commission – a reduction from its normal commission of between 2% and 4% plus VAT.

The model depends heavily on getting the initial valuations right and it updates its progress every month, currently claiming that on average it achieves a sales price 0.38% higher than it predicted and takes 141 days to sell.

https://nested.com/performance

The London-centric business was launched in January 2017. It has since raised a total of £165m, with a fund-raising round in October 2017 that netted £36m described as the largest funding round that year for a European proptech company.

In November last year, it went on to raise a further £120m of new funding, consisting of £100m of debt and £20m of equity fund-raising.

London proptech startup Nested has laid off 20% of its workforce citing ‘Brexit uncertainty’

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13 Comments

  1. James Wilson

    Nested has the most terrifying business model I have ever seen. Buying up property in a falling market and hoping to on sell later. The providers of the capital for this are insane.

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    1. s71

      Spot On

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    2. WiltsAgent

      Totally agree. This will be a complete train wreck. The last time the London market went into reverse it took 4 years to come back.

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    3. aSalesAgent

      Stick the properties on Airbnb for now. That’ll go some way to help until they are sold.

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  2. GPL

     

    “Nested?” ……chucking some of its employees out of its Nest.

     

     

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  3. AgencyInsider

    The only thing more extraordinary than the vast volume of money that is spaffed (thank you Boris Johnson for the only useful contribution you have ever made to this country) by disrupting, game-changing companies, is the vast volume of fools who provide that money.

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  4. Bless You

    How do u even start to get investment for such a flaky idea? Must be well connected.

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  5. Mark Walker 2

    Some people’s lives disrupted.

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  6. Mark Walker 2

    Also “Brexit”.  No slowdown in sales up in our neck of the woods.

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    1. Trevor Gillham

      Sorry about the thumbs down, accidental.

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  7. stillhaveapulse81

    Dead birds don’t fall out their nests !!!

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  8. JoshShinerock63

    Imagine trying to explain this to a seller in the home.

    We will buy your property. but we will also try and sell it for an extremely high fee and offer you a loan so you can move.

    but if we don’t, we will send you an apology letter and £1000 and sell it for 1% + VAT.

    urgh come again…

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  9. Woodentop

    Nested, the online firm that says it is re-inventing estate agency by helping people buy their next home before selling their own, has reportedly laid off 20% of its workforce.

     

    LOL. Doomed, doomed, doomed.

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