Entrepreneur, eMoov investor and former Dragon's Den star James Caan has followed in the footsteps of Countrywide by investing in Pi Labs.
Pi Labs was launched in 2014 Faisal Butt's venture capitalist firm Spire Ventures and commercial property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield with the objective of disrupting old-school business models within the property sector by funding proptech' start-ups.
Caan's investment is believed to have been made via the equity crowdfunding site Seedrs, as part of Pi Labs' bid to secure £500,000 to invest in new start-ups.
Earlier this month Countrywide, Britain's largest sales and lettings agency, invested £250,000 in Pi Labs.
Now Faisal Butt says he is honoured to have this investment from James, whom I have seen first hand support British small businesses over many years. He also has a great deal of knowledge about the property industry and so his backing means a lot.
Faisal Butt previously founded Hamilton Bradshaw Real Estate in partnership with James Caan. In December 2013 Caan invested in eMoov saying: I believe that the company has the ability to change how the consumer perceives this sector. The business model works.
Pi Labs has funded five property-related start-up so far.
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.
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Comments
Think about it - you hear LESS now from The Quirkster and his band of Marketing Minions than you did before the involvement of this pair.
Quirk's currently a one-trick pony - harping on relentlessly about his not being allowed onto a portal he swears blind he wouldn't join up even if they renamed OTM in his honour... and his hunchman seems to have recently developed an aversion to typing b011ocks and pressing 'Submit'.
Happy days all round, methinks! ;o)
Spot on!
Apart from eMoov - which has hardly set the world alight - I have not heard of any of the things Butt/Caan have been involved in after hearing they have invested....expecting the same service here tbh
THIS is news Come on!
Butt can't f@rt without Caan being there for first sniff. They are, or were until very, very recently were, business partners so the only surprise here is that he had to wait until someone much, much bigger put their cash up first.
"Pi Labs was launched in 2014 Faisal Butts venture capitalist firm Spire Ventures..." - of which, at the time, Caan was a Director.
It was a given.