PropTech startup Nested, which seeks to sell houses online within 90 days, has raised £1.2m in equity funding from Passion Capital and Global Founders Capital.
The startup, co-founded by GoCardless’ Matt Robinson, also drew support from various angel investors including Alex Samwer, founder of Alando, Jamba and Rocket Internet; and Paul Forster, the founder of Indeed.com.
Nested will aim to make selling a house less stressful by offering sellers the opportunity to escape the property chain and offering them certainty over their sale.
Matt Robinson, CEO of Nested, said: “The whole property chain and selling process is broken, with sellers complaining about slow lawyers, endless phones calls, untrustworthy estate agents, and of course, being let down by the buyer at the last minute.
“With so much time and effort wasted on the sales process, we set out to solve the problems that trap sellers in a lengthy sales chain and with no guarantee of a sale at the end of it,” he added.
Available only in London for the time being and to property owners with houses worth less than £1m, Nested will use smart valuation tech and process management techniques to ensure houses sell within the specified time period.
Nested will charge a minimum fee of 1.8%, and if property sells for more than the guarantee, the homeowner will get (80%) of any upside, regardless of whether the property is sold before or after 90 days. Nested will retain the other 20%.
“Today a third of agreed offers fall through, something we are seeing more of with increased uncertainty post-Brexit. Many sellers find themselves forced to start again, often losing the house of their dreams further down the chain as a result. Some resort to moving into rented accommodation in order to move on time for a new job or the start of the new school year, and end up paying for two properties. Nested makes sellers chain-free from day one, removing months of uncertainty and putting them in the strongest position to make their next purchase,” concluded the CEO.
Nested was also co-founded by former Songkick CTO, Phil Cowans, and ex-McKinsey consultant and trained architect, James Turford.