Yopa raises £20m as boss hails ‘disruption’ to traditional high street agencies
One of the UK’s fastest growing estate agencies has secured £20m in new funding today, underlining the threats that traditional brands face as new online rivals look to expand.
Hybrid estate agency Yopa has now raised more than £70m since its launch in early 2016, with the latest cash injections coming from the Daily Mail’s venture capital arm dmg ventures and Grosvenor Hill Ventures, the investment arm of Savills.
Fashioning itself as a disruptor to "traditional high street agencies by doing away with the unnecessary cost of high street shop fronts", Yopa is currently the UK’s eight largest estate agency brand in the UK.
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The investment comes in a month which has seen some of the most established physical estate agencies falling victim to dwindling profit margins and tumbling share prices, as the growing force of online rivals, coupled with a sluggish housing market, takes its toll.
Early this month Countrywide, one of the UK’s largest estate agency chains, suffered a 60 per cent drop in shares after announcing an emergency fundraising plan to rescue the business, and rival giant Foxtons also posted a £2.5m half-year loss several weeks ago.
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"This latest funding round from existing backers, who themselves have a deep understanding of our market, is clear recognition of Yopa’s potential to disrupt the traditional home sales industry. Since last year, Yopa has continued to rapidly grow its market share firmly cementing its position to become the UK’s eighth largest estate agency brand," according to Yopa chief executive Ben Poynter.
Manuel Lopo De Carvalho, boss of DMG ventures, added: "DMGT has a long-term approach and history of investing in early-stage businesses, having helped to create what became Zoopla from investments we made in the early 2000s. We’ve closely followed the dynamics of the property market and believe that technology-driven consumer demand will move estate agency transactions from the high street to online hybrids such as by Yopa."