Property Place, the network based in Facebook to allow users to search and share details of property for sale or rent, has secured a seven figure investment from three funds to fuel its expansion in the UK market.
The investment has allowed for a rebrand to Property Network and has facilitated the roll-out of a nationwide marketing campaign with the view to building brand awareness and driving the growth of registered users.
Overall, the company aims to recruit one million registered users and 1.2 million listed properties in the next six months.
Ingenious Ventures, the venture capital division of UK based investment and advisory group Ingenious, which specialises in backing companies across the media sector, led the ‘series A’ round with follow-on investment from Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn and Equity funds.
Commenting on the work Sohail Rashid, chief executive of Property Network said: “Property Network is set to shake up a market that is crying out for change. We are the property network for the social media generation and this will enable us to challenge Rightmove’s dominant position, which is unhealthy for the industry. In 2012 we proved that our service has the right mix of user friendly functionality and commercial appeal for agents.”
Patrick Bradley, CEO of Ingenious Ventures also commented on the investment: “Property Network is the ideal solution for today’s property market. Social media plays an important part in most peoples’ lives and this underpins the company’s huge growth potential. The property sector is ripe for technology driven change and Property Network is the company to do it.”