South African Proptech Startup, Flow, Raises $4.5 Pre-Series A to Expand into Europe
South African proptech startup, Flow, has raised $4.5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Futuregrowth Asset Management with participation from Endeavor Harvest Fund, Kalon Venture Partners, Vunani Fintech Fund, Buffet Investments, and Steven Heilbron.
The proptech marketing platform will use the funds to add other social media platforms, such as TikTok and LinkedIn, and other advertising channels, including out-of-home billboards.
Through leveraging the power of technology with APIs, Flow connects real estate firms and property developers with potential clients while automating their social media advertising.
Founded by Gil Sperling and Daniel Levy in 2017, Flow started as a platform that appreciates tenants for paying their rent on time. Before Flow, the co-founders built Popimedia, an ad tech and performance marketing company that was the largest buyer of Facebook media inventory in Africa for some of the world’s biggest brands.
While they sold Popimedia to a global communications group, Publicis, in 2016, they put to practice some of the knowledge they gained while running the company to pivot Flow into its current business model. It automates real estate agent marketing for developers. It also works with real estate websites, including Property24 and Private Property, to pull listings and automatically create ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other digital channels.
Flow professes that its proptech marketing platform improves agent revenue and property buyer and seller experiences. It also says that revenue has increased by 20% month after month over the last year.
Flow further claims it has over 300 clients using its platform, with about 6,000 agents using Flow in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius, and Australia.
According to the startup, it is in conversations with alliances, primarily property portals and CRM platforms, to break into Europe — France, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom— where it will “face stiffer competition.”
It will also use the funds to drive its B2B growth strategy and integrate its social media-driven real estate marketing platform into existing international property portals and CRM platforms.
