Countrywide, the UK's largest agency group, has invested an unspecified sum in Property Innovation Labs, a fund often helping start-up firms which have the target of disrupting traditional estate agency and property industry business models.
Pi Labs was created in October through a strategic partnership between global real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield and venture capitalist company Spire Ventures. Countrywide's involvements brings the total investment in Pi Labs to £320,000.
The fund is hosted on Seedrs, a crowdfunding platform that allows members of the public to invest alongside institutional investors and corporate entities, such as Spire Ventures and Cushman & Wakefield, in a ready-made portfolio of companies.
Five start-ups, which were selected from over 200 business plans received, have joined the fund's first accelerator programme of 2015, with another cycle scheduled for later this year.
They are AirSorted, an Airbnb management company offers owners assistance in organising cleanings, key exchanges, laundry, guest bookings, complaints, reviews and pricing; Officernd, which looks at office space usage; Rialto, an online platform that connects commercial landlords and estate agents; Wilde Rooms, a retail interior design and fittings company: and Land Technologies, which uses new technology to identify development land.
Countrywide .... are passionate about supporting innovation in our sector and were one of the early investors in both Rightmove and Zoopla, amongst others. We hope companies who join PiLabs will benefit from the expertise that our nationwide business has to offer says Graham Bell, Countrywide finance director.
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