Outsourced viewings service Viewber has won a second raft or ‘Series B’ round of funding for the fledgling business launched last September by industry veteran Ed Mead and technology entrepreneur Marcus de Ferranti (pictured, right).
The two founders of the company won’t say how much extra cash they’ve raised but Mead told The Negotiator that he wants to capitalise on the company’s “first mover” advantage and continue growing the company.
This hints at a rival outsourced viewings operation waiting in the wings. But Ed also says he and Marcus want to carry on investing in the automated operation system that the Viewber model relies on, and hire more key staff.
Enthusiastically invested
He also confirmed that former Marsh & Parsons MD Peter Rollings, who came in early as a ‘Series A’ investor as we reported in January, remains “enthusiastically invested” in the company.
But while Viewber is sometimes seen as part of the UK’s proptech sector expansion, its technology at launch was surprisingly old-school – for example there was no mobile app for clients or agents to use. Has this changed?
“Have we gone digital? Yes, big time as always planned,” says Ed. “We have a complex and fully functional automated platform which is and will continue to be constantly developed and further integrated to our customers’ platforms.”
The founding pair also say the company is on course to complete 3,000 viewings this month using its national network of freelance part-time viewing agents, which it calls ‘viewbers’, hence the company name.
“They’re all ex-professional, high-achieving facilitators” says de Ferranti, “[and] their joining requirements are super efficiency and super-fast broadband.”
The viewing agents are vetted before joining the company, and paid between £10 and £20 per viewing and, the company claims, there are currently 1,200 registered and 30 signing up every week.
Mead, who used to head up London agency Douglas & Gordon, says they come from a variety of backgrounds and are often retired professional, ex-forces, former estate agents, teachers and stay-at-home parents.
The post Outsourced viewings firm Viewber wins second round of funding appeared first on The Negotiator.