Online estate agent Nested nets £36m from venture capitalists

A new online estate agent whose backers include London’s venture capital queen Eileen Burbidge has raised £36 million.

Serial entrepreneur Matt Robinson, who received early support from Burbidge’s Passion Capital and Balderton Capital, has received the funding boost from Global Founders Capital for his new company Nested, bringing the total raised to £47 million.

Nested guarantees sellers up to 97% of the value of their property in 90 days and the rest on completion of the sale, allowing customers to get on with buying their next home and removing the risk of collapsed property chains.

Robinson said the idea was inspired by his own property sale frustrations, despite being a cash buyer.

The GoCardless founder says: “Anyone who has ever sold a home in the UK knows the system is broken.

The typical sale involves months of stress with one in three falling through.

Worse still, home sellers don’t know the only two things that matter — how much they will sell for and when they will receive the money — until after their property is sold.”

Nested charges an average 3% of the property’s value if it achieves its sale valuation, and takes the loss if the house is sold for below its guaranteed minimum – typically 95% to 97% of the valuation. It is taking on 50 sellers a month.