YOPA, the hybrid estate agency announced this morning that it has raised a £16m round of funding. This includes investment from Grosvenor Hill Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Savills plc.
The strategic investment sees Savills, founded in 1855, take a stake in the web-based estate agency market.
Jeremy Helsby, Savills Group CEO, said: “We have followed the rapid advance of the online ‘hybrid’ estate agency model over the last year.
“This investment broadens the group’s access to the UK residential sector by enabling us to take an interest in the high volume segment of the market, comprising over 1m transactions annually, to which Savills has had little exposure to date.
“We have been consistently impressed by YOPA, whose technological edge, dedication to service, clarity and focus on the client at the heart of the sales process all resonate strongly with our core values and the way we do business.”
The actual size of Savills’ stake has not been revealed. While described as a minority holding, the sum is nevertheless likely to be substantial.
Since launching nationwide in January 2016, YOPA’s listing numbers have on average more than doubled month on month, it claims.
Like Purplebricks, YOPA uses local estate agents in conjunction with its online services, charging a fixed fee of £780.
YOPA says its end to end platform means that sellers are not constrained by estate agency office hours; YOPA’s data shows that the most popular time for buyers and sellers to interact with their website is 8pm, with almost a third of viewings being conducted after 5pm and 45% over the weekend.
The funding from Savills comes alongside investment from Andrew and Alistair Barclay (two members of YOPA’s founding team and who are sons of the Telegraph owners) plus further strategic investors. A total investment of £16m was raised.
Daniel Attia, co-founder and CEO of YOPA, said: “We are immensely proud to have received investment from such a well established company.
“Savills is the UK’s leading brand in property services with substantial global operations and is known for its entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to innovation.
“Their support, and that of our other investors, puts us in a great position to supercharge our growing market share.”
Comments (15)
A bit like Bollinger wacking a few quid into blue wicked because .. well… one never knows !
This is great news for OTM and shows their strategy is working because…. the anti-OTM brigade are out in force saying it isn’t.
There you go – simple, straightforward and to the point. Not like me, I know – call it a end-of-week gift.
I will use the balance of words elsewhere, if you don’t mind.
And please donate my prize to Agents Giving – and the Gift Reference quoted must be:
OnTheMarketIsABSOLUTELYBrilliant.
Thanks, danny. You’re a star *
Good attempt from RealAgent but we can do better. As its Friday a bottle of wine for the winner.
This is great news for OTM and shows their strategy is working because ……… (No more than 20 words)
their strategy is working because……when you read the article a few below, look at just how many agents across the country support OTM.
Even had one word to spare. I look forward to receiving your “whine” danny.
I think adding some perspective to this, Savills being awash with cash, have decided to pitch their tents in another camp. They can now sit back and see what develops having committed probably no more than what amounts to risk capital.
As for YOPA, personally I have had no experience of them but probably their family connections gives them a little credibility from an investor perspective, but really, they are rolling out the same old rubbish that will blow a load of cash on advertising for the wheel to come off their bus down the road.
I think the whole OTM thing is irrelevant. Unless someone tells me that Savills are moving their entire business online, I’m not sure they can be judged based on investments. If that was a prerequisite of membership of AM/OTM then I’m sure a few other agents may need to check where there pension funds were investing.
Unless your pension fund has set up another pension fund that bans the first pension funds clients from investing in more than one other investment whilst simultaneously investing in the second pension fund to make multiple investments therefore spreading the risk and playing both sides from the middle then I dont really think its a relevant analogy ?
I guess it saves having to beg the public for money and humiliate yourself in front of Richard Branson.
I have it on good authority (Institute of Meaningless Statistics – Croydon Alabama) that “bricks & mortar” Estate Agents report that when they are closed the most popular time for buyers and sellers to interact with their company websites is 8pm, with almost a third of viewings being conducted after 5pm and 45% over the weekend.”
Since property is a personal issue I think you will find that Google will confirm that the internet is generally at its busiest (for personal searches) between 8pm and 9pm for everything, not just property.
And yes there is empirical evidence that personal “toy” purchases (along with associated lubricants) peak at the same time but remain at a constant depending on how lucky/unlucky the enquirer is feeling.
Just a thought.
This is the same firm who were instrumental in setting up Agents Mutual in order to keep out the call-centre agents isn’t it?
Yep – Raises a lot of questions as far as i am concerned.
As I’ve said many times before, I have nothing against a non-high street presence business model* and I believe that OTM were fundamentally wrong to ban the business model from its site however; it seems to me that their position within OTM is incompatible with their latest acquisition. Something has to give.
*as long as it complies with the law
Raises the question of if this is ethical given there position with OTM / AM
Also raises questions about your spelling and grammar.
Seriously though, not often I agree with you SP. I am expecting a resignation from the board at the very least.
“Seriously though, not often I agree with you SP”
B011ocks – the sound of your head nodding like a demented parcel-shelf ornament reverberated right round the UK before he joined OTM.
Eh?