French Agent Association FNAIM Reinvests in Challenger Portal Bien'ici

The French challenger portal Bien'ici has announced that it has received fresh investment from FNAIM (Fédération nationale de l'immobilier), the national union of real estate professionals.

The financial commitment came from more than 20 different regional chapters of FNAIM with the amount of funding not disclosed. FNAIM's investment comes just weeks after Bien'ici announced that the prominent real estate services group Evoriel had taken an undisclosed stake in the company.

"FNAIM is one of the historic founders of Bien'ici . Their support is essential to us. This investment in the capital of regional chambers is a strong signal and proof of the commitment of FNAIM members to the Bien'ici model! We are grateful for the trust of our investors and we are doing everything we can to make Bien'ici the benchmark for real estate platforms in France," said Cyril Janin, Managing Director of Bien'ici , in a press release.

Bien'ici is an agent-backed challenger going up against the likes of AVIV Group-owned vertical SeLoger and Adevinta-owned Leboncoin. The portal has been in the news recently for claiming that it is in second place in many French regions as well as improving its advertising packages for agents.

Competition has been hotting up in the French market for some time. Amid a challenging market for agents, SeLoger controversially allowed FSBO listings on its portal for the first time last year. Bien'ici has been hoping to capitalise on the frustration felt by agents and take some market share away from its big rival.