Online estate agent and proptech firm Emoov has launched its second crowdfunding campaign to give people a “last chance to invest” ahead of a potential stock exchange listing next year.
The move comes after Emoov completed a £100 million merger with Tepilo and Urban to create the second largest player in the rapidly growing ‘online’ and ‘hybrid’ sector.
Backed by VCs and investors including Richard Desmond, Sarah Beeny and James Caan, Emoov had raised a total of £16m prior to the merger, including £2.6 million from a previous crowdfunding campaign in 2015.
The company is now back on Crowdcube and has already exceeded its £1 million target, but is hoping to go “above and beyond” that figure and is still accepting investments from as little as £10.
“We hope that the proof is very much already in the pudding given the fantastic success we achieved last time we crowdfunded, and we hope that the newly enlarged Emoov group will be an even more attractive proposition to Crowdcube investees this time around,” said founder and CEO Russell Quirk.
Emoov’s senior management team also includes CFO Frank McGlade, former head of corporate development at Just Eat who led the company’s IPO and M&A activity including its acquisition of Hungry House.
Quirk added: “In contrast to our last campaign, we already have the foundations in place to put our sights on an IPO.
“However, we wanted to offer one last opportunity for non-institutional investors to support the enlarged company, and to benefit from the anticipated uplift in value that our continued success is likely to deliver.”
The merger with Tepilo and Urban, which completed in May, attracted an additional £6 million from existing shareholders plus £9 million in media for equity across Sky and Channel 5, and a multi-million pound sum from Channel 4 in return for a stake in the combined business.
In its crowdfunding page, Emoov said it was planning an anticipated IPO by the first quarter of 2019.