International relocation specialist service MOVE Guides has announced that it has raised £400,000 in seed funding, led by former LinkedIn Europe MD Kevin Eyres, Anthemis Group founder Sean Park and angel investor Sherry Coutou.
The company’s UK-based CEO Brynne Herbert raised the revenue during a 5 month period in which she was also completing her MBA at the London Business School. Herbert, who founded the service in September 2011, told us that the competition for involvement was so hot that she was forced to turn a number of potential investors away.
The company is competing for a piece of a global relocation market that Herbert estimates to be worth some £40 billion. The MOVE Guides founder points out that, if the world’s expat collective were made into a country, its population would the planet’s fifth largest.
The immediate plan is to focus on London, and in particular incoming expats and worldwide removals who are returning to the UK capital.
Capital-wise, Herbert estimates that the firm will go through series A funding in 15-18 months time, during which time it will begin to expand its approach to focus on moves in and out of other global hubs.
Inspiration to startup the company came from Herbert’s time working in Asia, as she explained to us:
I am a real estate private equity investor-turned-entrepreneur who left a career in finance in Asia to change the way people move cities.”
US-based Techstars-backed competitor Movelineis is the obvious comparison, but Herbert explains that MOVE Guides maintains a greater focus on the international, and provides “many more services” – including end-to-end management of move related services – which can be a pain, take it from an expat.
Hebert reveals that other investors who completed the round include Dale Murray (co-founder of pay-as-you-go technology firm Omega Logic), Alex Viall (co-founder of Complinet), Tom Hulme and “selected senior finance and business professionals.”
Read more : UK-based international relocation specialist MOVE Guides ships in £400k in seed funding
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