The iProperty Company, which is seeking £500,000 via crowdfunding site Seedrs.com, has reached its 60% target with three weeks to run.

The pitch puts the valuation of the company, which operates globally but has a tie up with developers in the UK via the NHBC, at £8m.

Its portal allows new homes developers and private sellers to list for nothing.

However, it bans estate agents – calling into question the deal done with the NHBC whose members are often reliant on agents to work on land deals and to sell new homes.

Most of the iProperty listings in UK are from new homes developers, and not private sellers.

At the weekend, of 8,064 listings, only 94 were for sale by owner adverts.

Brian Blake, former boss of Swinton Insurance and now chairman of iProperty, said: “It’s exciting to think that having spent only a modest amount on test marketing we have properties listed in around 20 countries and have more UK listings than any online agent.

“Most of the new funding will be spent on marketing so the impact we make will be significant.”

Thomas Davies, chief investment officer of Seedrs, said: “Seedrs is delighted to be offering this unique opportunity to investors.

“The iProperty Company is still a fairly new enterprise, but the number of listings and high calibre partners it has already attracted, demonstrates that this is a viable business model in an industry undergoing dramatic change.”

John Candia, CEO of the iProperty Company, said: “2015 will be a year of disruption in the UK estate agents’ market and there is great excitement about this within the investment community.

“There is growing interest in online property options and it is clear that consumers are increasingly turning away from the traditional way of selling property.

“Seedrs was an important part of our investment strategy because we want to offer everyone, especially our community of users, the opportunity to invest directly and earn a share in our future profits.’

The iProperty Company stresses that “it is completely free, providing individuals with the opportunity to buy, sell or rent property without incurring commission, fixed fee or otherwise.

“A ‘Buyer Guarantee’ is offered that means the buyer will always be contacting the owner directly – no agents are permitted on the site. Revenue is generated by offering a range of optional property related services.”

Those services include the supply of photography and estate agency boards.

* In a completely unrelated case, crowdfunding site Crowdcube has confirmed to Eye that it has disallowed the pitch from Property TV, after it closed. It had sailed some 58% over its fund-raising target of £200,000.

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: “After our due diligence process, the Property TV investment has been cancelled and no money has been taken from investors.”