Property Partner, the ambitious tech start-up which allows people to crowdfund the purchase of individual properties by buying stakes for as little as £50, has laid off over a quarter of its staff.

Announcing a restructuring of its business, the firm says that in the process, headcount is to be reduced by 13, taking staff numbers down to 31.

A statement said: “The decision, coming after the completion of a £15.9m Series B funding round earlier this year, is a proactive move to improve efficiency and streamline the company’s cost base.”

The London-based enterprise launched in January last year, with ambitions to be to residential property what the London Stock Exchange is to shares.

Those who buy shares in individual homes get a share in the rent and benefit from capital appreciation. If they want to dispose of their interest, they can trade their shares on Property Partner’s secondary platform.

Impressive backers of Property Partner include Octopus, also an early backer of Zoopla, Jon Moulton (founder of Alchemy) and Ed Ray (Betfair).

The firm sets outs its stall offering a safer alternative to buy-to-let, which can be an armchair investment, and appears to have been highly successful in igniting the public’s interest.

By March this year, as EYE reported, total investment in the company stood at £22.5m after a new fundraising round led by Octopus.

It also reported having over 6,200 customers who between them invested £24m in 166 properties within the space of 15 months.

Yesterday, CEO and founder of the 19-month old firm Dan Gandesha insisted that the company retains its ambition and has a strong balance sheet.

The decision to make the redundancies – all in support roles such as marketing, HR and customer services – was apparently made before, and irrespective of, the Leave vote.

Gandesha said in a statement: “It is always extremely difficult to lose talented and highly-skilled staff, but across the global start-up community there has been a growing theme of caution and more active management of costs, beginning late 2015.

“We are closing 13 job roles in support services to improve the focus on our core business proposition. For example, we will shortly be launching a globally innovative ‘bidding-engine’ feature that takes us yet closer to our vision of a global stock exchange for residential property.

“Our balance sheet remains strong, our team, board and shareholders committed, and we are all as passionate and confident about the future as ever.”