Irish online estate agent Moove raising funds as it looks to upset rivals

Moove, an Irish online real estate company intent on disrupting the residential property sector by offering flat fees for transactions, is looking to raise at least £200,000 (€224,000) through a crowdfunding round to enable it to expand.

The company, which also enables homeowners to conduct the entire houseselling process online, has this week launched a fundraising campaign on the UK-based Crowdcube platform.

Established by David Madden in mid-2016, the start-up said it intends to use the funds to develop a mobile app and on marketing efforts to promote the business and drive more homebuyers to the company's website.

"We need to educate the public that they do not need to spend so much money on estate agency fees when selling a property," Mr Madden told The Irish Times.

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Mr Madden said his aim is to disrupt the estate agency market in Ireland, just as other so-called ‘hybrid estate agents’ like Purple Bricks and eMoov have done in the UK. Such companies typically charge considerably less than traditional estate agents and also provide the ability to do functions such as accepting or rejecting bids online.

eMoov, which is reportedly considering a flotation, is valued at £40 million following a recent investment round while Purple Bricks has a projected revenue of £80millon for 2018.

In return for taking a punt on the start-up, Moove is offering a number of rewards, Including a promise to list and sell a property without any transaction fees for those investing €500 in the company.

“What differentiates Moove from traditional companies like Sherry Fitz and DNG is that we are providing a higher service but for a fair price, there is no need to pay an estate agent €10,000+ to sell a Dublin home when we are already doing this for €1,800,” said Mr Madden.

“We operate on a no sale no fee basis and with no money upfront, our customers aren’t handing over hundreds upfront in “marketing” fees, yet we still supply; for sale signs, property brochures, advertising on Daft, MyHome, the major UK property portals for extra exposure and we bring the sale right through to completion by dealing with solicitors, the same as any estate agency,” he added.

Mr Madden said the start-up, which is revenue-generating, is currently in discussions with a number of banks.

Moove employs four people, three of which are estate agents. It is looking to increase headcount to ten staff within two years.