Street Group is taking on its first external funding after scaling to 146 staff less than a decade after launch.
The Manchester tech startup, which specialises in software solutions for estate agents, is poised to capitalise on AI advancements after raising £3.3 million.
Founded in 2015 by brother and sister, Tom and Heather Staff, the PropTech provides two major product offerings called Spectre and Street.co.uk: software designed to help estate agencies more efficiently generate leads, win new business and provide exceptional customer service.
Street Group currently supports over 4,000 local, regional and national agents, and is planning to use the funding to accelerate product development, scale the team and introduce more innovation to the industry, including advanced AI support for its suite of solutions.
The business, which has so far only used its own funding sources to scale to a team of 146 in under 10 years, has raised £3.3m from Praetura Ventures. The minority investment includes funding from its Praetura EIS Growth Fund, Praetura Growth VCT and from NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance.
Praetura’s investment director, Peter Carway, has joined Street Group’s board as part of the investment.
“Our family has deep roots in the property industry, so we’ve seen first-hand the manual and complex processes that agents face,” said Heather Staff.
“Moving home is also one of life’s most stressful experiences, and we have always firmly believed that modern technology is the key to making life easier for both agents and homemovers.
“Now, as the established choice for forward-thinking estate agents, Praetura’s support allows us to accelerate our agent-centric approach to ensure Street customers are the agents of choice for buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants.”
Peter Carway, investment director at Praetura Ventures, said: “This deal represents everything great about investment in the region. Entrepreneurial founders have created a business that is using advanced AI to drive innovation in a sector-altering way.
“Our backing will give the company extra fire power to take these advancements to more of the market, so it’s an incredibly exciting time for us to join the business.
“Street Group’s efficient and scalable solutions have driven their immense success to date and we are lucky to have the opportunity to support the businesses with more than money in the future.”