Viewber first anniversary press release
Viewber - one year on
Start-up’s extraordinary year, major milestones and its 6500th viewing
Viewber, the outsourced viewing service for the property industry celebrates its first anniversary this week by notching up its 6500th appointment, concluding a remarkable year for the start up.
Launched in early September 2016 by Ed Mead and Marcus de Ferranti, the idea behind the company was to bring the power of the sharing economy to the property industry via the click of a button on a simple online dashboard.
Underpinned by Mead's 37 years of property experience and de Ferranti's expert digital background, Viewber was created to provide an efficient, reliable and simple solution to an age-old industry problem of struggling to service all viewings, appointments and general access, especially as consumer expectations rise.
From a standing start with a handful of clients and handling 50 viewings in the first three months, the company now has over 500 registered clients (including industry giants and major household names) ranging from lettings, sales, auction and commercial agents, to property and asset managers. The bespoke system is managed by a dedicated ops team and serviced throughout the UK by their rapidly expanding 'Viewber army' (vetted and security checked local people) currently numbering over 2200 and now growing at c.20 every day.
Mead says: “This has been the most exciting, rewarding year for me and the incredible Viewber team and I couldn’t be happier with how the last 12 months have progressed. The support, encouragement and buy-in we've received from the very beginning reinforced the idea that we were doing something people needed, and feedback told us it was working.
“I always knew this service was part of the future and increasingly useful to busy agents and other industry players, who face squeezed margins and increased competition. Agents, buyers and tenants now expect service on demand, which is often late, at short notice or at weekends. Viewber can help support a business freeing up teams to spend more time putting deals together and less out on the road.
‘’ It has been a phenomenal year and it’s hard to believe we’ve achieved so much in such a short space of time. We’re looking and planning ahead and the future looks every bit as promising ‘’
Some Milestones
· Sept 2016: official launch – The Times writes about the venture and refers to the ‘Viewber Army’
· Dec 2016: Employees invest
· Dec 2016: Peter Rollings invests saying 'They’ve looked at a problem that exists in the industry and provided a viable solution'
· Jan 2017: 450 registered Viewbers
· March 2017: 1000 registered Viewbers
· May 2017: Oversubscribed friends and family round. Some well-known Industry figures participate.
· May 2017: Daily Mail journalist spends a morning as Viewber “Does it matter that I'm not an agent?” She asks viewing couple. “No, in fact we prefer it”.
· August 2017: Outsourcing expert, Kate Campbell-Balcombe, arrives as Viewber’s first major hire.
Some Viewber records
· 188: greatest number of block viewings requested by a client in one go
· 30 minutes: shortest time between requested and actual viewing
· 5.45am: earliest request for viewing at 8.30am same day – sorted
Some Testimonials
· "A big thanks to you, the team and the Viewbers we've used so far - things have worked very swiftly and it's certainly going to aid our ability to scale and cover a much larger area"
· "I love Viewber because I never hear about it. They just do what they say, cause no problems, generate no complaints and save us money"
· “Just put our first property under offer using you guys. Good feedback from the viewers as well”