Technology

Posted on November 6, 2017 by staff

Student accommodation app appoints new chairman

Technology

Student accommodation app Bubble Student has announced that esteemed businessman Rupert Hambro has joined as chairman after his investment into the company.

Rupert Hambro co-founded ‘the company builder’ Hambro Perks with Dominic Perks. Bubble Student have since moved into the Hambro Perks office space.

“Bubble Student have shown great potential in a short period of time and with our guidance can continue to excel even further,” said Hambro.

“My investment will enable them to place their name into more universities, as well as inviting more letting agencies on the platform.”

The disruptive student accommodation app launched in October 2016 and is the only mobile-first student accommodation app.

Built on an innovative listing platform, Bubble Student allows users to examine thousands of housing options, share them instantly with their future housemates and book viewings at the tap of a button.

Founded by two 22 year olds, Felix Henderson and Solomon Wright, Bubble Student is the first housing app that combats the difficulties that students face when trying to find somewhere to live each year.

The app makes it as easy as possible for students to find suitable accommodation in their city.

Bubble Student now lists over 16,000 properties across 20 cities in the UK, all of which you can easily share and chat about with future housemates on the internal group chat function.

The app also allows the user to instantly book house viewings to the 874 letting agencies.

After a let is agreed, students can then continue to communicate with their agency or property manager through the app flagging, for example, maintenance issues.

The app uses revolutionary data-driven solutions for the benefits of letting agencies.

It is powered by Zoopla and uses emerging technologies such as machine learning and cloud computing.

Bubble Student aggregates accommodation options from letting agencies, landlords of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs), Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and private properties on an easy-to-use and free-to-list platform, providing a vast variation of property types.

The app is also beneficial for agencies and landlords as it cuts their cost of sale as well as the time it takes to let a property.

Bubble Student offers in-depth behavioural analytics on how and why the property is performing as it does by benchmarking the price relative to other properties, analysing key words in the description, assessing photo quality and content and evaluating at what point a lead is converted or abandoned.

Rupert Hambro invested into the company in January 2017 and the company now has a post-investment valuation of £1 million.

Hambro Perks incubates and invests in fast-growth companies that disrupt and make lives easier, backing great people with a clear vision and high energy.

This year, the business looks to raise for their seed round by attracting potential investors.

“With many of my friends struggling to find decent student accommodation at university, Solomon and I joined forces to create a company that made the search for student housing easy and simple,” said Bubble Student CEO Felix Henderson.

“After a year of running the company, we’re extremely excited to have Rupert join as Chairman and will no doubt benefit from his business acumen.”