British PropTech Roundup: OnTheMarket Smartboards, Homesearch's 1500% ROI and Fresh Funding for Lavanda

New OnTheMarket Smartboards to bring 'a new type of lead'

British property portal OnTheMarket has launched a new range of for-sale signs in partnership with local signage firm Kramer Signs.

The new Smartboards are described as 'small slips' that can be added to an agent's for-sale sign and feature a QR code which leads the user to OnTheMarket's listing page for the property, the Smartboards will attract a "new type of lead" in areas with high footfall according to the majority agent-owned portal. Agents will be able to see the analytics from the scheme on a custom dashboard.

OnTheMarket's CEO, Jason Tebb said of the new tool: “As technology continues to be an increasingly important part of how people search for their next home, this partnership embraces that consumer behaviour and is another example of how we’re introducing best-in-class products to add value to our offering and ensure we’re supporting our agents.”

The scheme was piloted by the company back in November but has been kept strictly under wraps ever since by the portal's marketing department. The idea is somewhat similar to the original Homesnap app in America where users took a picture of a house they walked past in the street and were led to a page with information on the property.

New Homesearch tools to give '1500% ROI'

British property data platform Homesearch has launched new data reporting tools for agents which it claims will lead to a 1500% ROI for its customers.

Dream Home Finder, one of four new tools, allows agents and their clients to search for properties for sale and those off the market that match exact criteria in any location with the aim of generating instructions that would otherwise have been hidden.

“These new innovative reporting features represent the most fundamental update to the Homesearch platform since our inception,” said Giles Ellwood, Homesearch CEO.

“It is the result of months of investment in product development and gathering feedback and data from estate agents, to understand what tools and insights they need to drive more qualified prospecting opportunities, valuations and instructions.

“We see these platform enhancements as invaluable to agents looking to steal a march on their competitors and drive business growth in tough market conditions where housing stock for sale remains extremely low.”

Founded in 2017, having evolved from a lifestyle magazine answering readers' questions about house pricing, Homesearch is today a tool used by British agents to get property insights and win instructions. The company claims to have the most comprehensive data available on every home in the country and allows agents to send marketing directly to all of them.

Homesearch recently received investment from early Zoopla backer Octopus Ventures which has ties to Zoopla's founder Alex Chesterman.

Flexible rentals platform Lavanda gets £5.3 million

The London-based flexible rentals specialist Lavanda has announced a Series B funding round worth £5.3 million. Led by Finch Capital, with participation from US-based Starwood Capital via European venture partner Concrete VC, the money will be used to develop its tech platform that uses AI to optimise revenues and occupancy for property managers.

Lavanda recently used its expertise to set up a new short term rentals platform in the UAE named Cloud Living in partnership with local developer Aldar.