Hatched, an online low cost estate agent with offices across Wales and England, has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to raise £250,000 for a 5% equity stake in the company. Just recently launched the campaign has already attracted the interest from 29 investors. With the real estate market picking up in the UK, Hatched is seeking additional capital to expand operations across the United Kingdom.
The investment secured through the Hatched crowdfunding campaign will be put towards the recruitment of field agents (35 in the first year and 10 per month thereafter) to provide representation in key regional and local hubs across the UK. These agents will report into a growing network of Hatched regional offices, of which there are already seven in existence: Hitchin, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Reading, Maidstone and Exeter. The investment will also allow for the expansion of these regional hubs and further recruitment of regional managers.
According to Hitchin born co-founder and director, Adam Day, investment in online estate agency is a “no brainer”, as homeowners become more and more savvy to the benefits of selling online. A fervent advocate of utilising digital platforms in this very technological age, Day actually encourages traditional estate agents to embrace technology to drive efficiency and convenience for clients, or risk failure, claiming that “an office doesn’t sell houses; Rightmove and Zoopla do.”
With the arrival of various new players shaking up the online estate agency industry this year, the online vs offline debate is a hot topic. Hatched provides a solution for the market; a full estate agency service that achieves the same result for customers as a high street agent, but for a much lower fee.
Offering a choice of three simple fee structures, including a fixed fee option of only £270 up front and then £270 on completion – a total of just £540 – Hatched’s fees include VAT and are on average 85% lower than a traditional high street estate agents’. This equates to an average saving of approximately £3,700 per sale and a total saving of £11million for homeowners who have sold through Hatched over the last eight years.
“As an established and successful brand with solid expertise in the property market, I am confident we will achieve the target of £250,000 of investment” says Day. “Competitor and newcomer to the market, EstatesDirect, recently closed a successful crowdfunding campaign and although the company benefits from having a well-known name behind the brand, it lacks the history, the reputation, the in-depth understanding of the market and, interestingly, even the stock. With almost 1,000 properties currently listed on Hatched, we are ten times bigger than EstatesDirect and as such, are a much safer bet for those looking to invest in a business that knows what it’s doing and has the experience to ensure that it continues to get it right.”
Launched in May 2006, Hatched claims to be a pioneer of the online estate agency model. Today, with almost 1,000 properties on the books and currently enjoying an average growth rate of 40% per year, Hatched states they are one of the biggest and most successful platforms of their kind.
Set up and still fully owned and run by the three original founders and directors, Adam Day, James Venning and James Saunders, the Hatched team has over 100 years’ estate agency experience between them. They are fully committed to and passionate about continuing to drive change in estate agency over the next few years.
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