Purplebricks

Purplebricks is an online estate agent which operates in the UK. Founded in 2012 by Michael Bruce and Kenny Bruce, it is backed by investors that include venture capital firm DN Capital as well as Neil Woodford, Paul Pindar, and Errol Damelin.

History

Early history

Michael and Kenny Bruce conceived their idea for an online estate agency in 2012. Property sales in the United Kingdom had historically been handled by traditional (or "high street") estate agencies. The brothers previously led one such agency, Burchell Edwards, and believed that a lower-cost, digital model for residential property sales could be developed that reduced expenses associated with running a chain of physical offices. The name “Purplebricks” was chosen for this venture while brainstorming around a kitchen table. The founders felt that the colour purple symbolised "regalness" while "bricks" reflected property and technology, and that “Purplebricks” would be a recognisable brand name.

The corporate parent of Purplebricks was initially registered in April 2012 with the name New Portal Limited. In October 2012, the name was changed to New Broom Limited, signalling a desire to sweep clean the existing UK residential property market and bring about a fresh approach. Early investors included DN Capital, the London-based technology fund, Paul Pindar, the former CEO of Capita, Martin Bolland, Capita's then non-executive chairman, and Errol Damelin, the founder of Wonga.

In April 2014, Purplebricks publicly launched and began listing homes in the United Kingdom, although initially only within parts of southern England. In August, the company raised £8m of equity investment led by fund manager Neil Woodford, who acquired a 30 percent stake in the company. By May 2015, operations expanded into other regions of England and Wales, and plans were announced for a possible stock market listing. The company appointed Canaccord Genuity to oversee the potential float. Expansion into Northern Ireland and Scotland followed in June and November, respectively.

Becoming public

In December 2015, Purplebricks formally announced its plan to launch on AIM later that month, making it the first online estate agency to debut on the stock market. Ahead of the float, the company stated that it had 4,300 residential properties listed for sale—nearly twice the number of the next largest online agency—and intended to use raised funds to further boost its national presence, acquire more agents, and invest in the brand and technology. The company also announced it had already sold £58 million worth of shares, primarily to three major corporate investors: Old Mutual, Artemis, and Fidelity. As part of the IPO process, the corporate parent of Purplebricks, New Broom Limited, re-registered as a public limited company with the name Purplebricks Groups Limited. Shares began trading on 17 December. Just under a quarter of the company sold to investors, valuing the online estate agent at £240.2 million.

Further growth and international expansion

In June 2016, Purplebricks announced that it had recruited an Australian management team and planned to launch its platform in the country. In August, Purplebricks launched a media campaign in Australia about the company's fixed-price property marketing, and formally launched its operations there later that month. In 2017, Purplebricks’ Australian subsidiary generated a £6.1 million loss with £3.9 million spent on administration costs and £3.8 million spent on marketing and PR-related costs.

Purplebricks expanded into the United States in 2017, beginning operations in Los Angeles before moving into San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, and then New York in 2018.
The expansion was supported by more than $60 million in funds raised through a special stock offering. Purplebricks' business proposition remained essentially the same for U.S. customers: the company charged a listing fee of $3,200, which sellers were required to pay regardless of whether their home sold.

In August 2017, Purplebricks was featured on BBC
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