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- Five years ago, a Johannesburg-based former engineer and attorney started a new company whose software optimises social media ads for estate agents.
- Flow has just secured another $4.5 million investment from local investors - about R78 million.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
A Johannesburg-based company that helps estate agents sell properties via social media has just secured another R78 million from local investors.
Co-founders and co-CEOs Gil Sperling and Daniel Levy describe their company as "a property industry marketing department in a box".
Flow's software automatically creates social media ads of agent listings and their profiles to target buyers and sellers. The company makes money by licensing out its software and taking a fee from agents' marketing budgets.
Sperling and Levy founded the company in 2018, after selling their previous venture Popimedia, a Facebook marketing partner, to French international group Publicis in 2015.
Popimedia was the largest buyer of Facebook media ads in Africa, and representing several large brands.
"At Popimedia we created software that our clients – big brands and agencies - used to buy ads on Facebook, optimising their campaigns, and getting accurate analytics. Therefore, our platform helped clients generate better social media advertising performance," explains Sperling.
"With Flow, our idea was to provide tools for the real estate world to grow their business in the same way we did for other clients across other sectors at Popimedia," adds Levy.
"[Estate agents] have limited resources and focus on what they do best - closing deals - rather than being marketing experts."
In South Africa alone, 40 000 estate agents are working with around 300 000 listings at any given time.
"Social media platforms and digital media offer powerful targeting tools that can make things like searching for a new home much simpler when used for the right purposes. It's more than being followed around online by ads for something you glanced at once – you want to see posts and ads on your timeline that are relevant for you," says Levy.
Agents also don't want to waste money on "a machine-gun approach online" hoping that their listing will magically end up in front of the right person at the right time.
"We needed to solve that problem because it's such a massive, meaningful industry, and Flow is our solution," says Levy.
Sperling describes the property sector as "fragmented, archaic, and untransformed".
"Hustling to solve huge problems gives me energy, drives me, and has me waking up every morning wanting to do the difficult things and grow personally. It's a tough road and isn't for everyone – but it's also massively rewarding," says Levy, a former commercial attorney.
"Entrepreneurship is risky and difficult with high highs and low lows. The thrill is in inventing things – our journey so far. It's like walking through a maze until you figure out the path that takes you to the next stage. You need focus and passion. You must also be pragmatic because not every idea is a winner."
Sperling, who started his career as an engineer, adds: "Generally, tech has to be built and invested in before it can be solved and scaled – and you see massive returns later. An investor needs to back the right jockey. We've done this before with Popimedia, so they know we have the skills and perseverance as proven entrepreneurs."
The $4.5 million (about R78 million) investment will drive the business's B2B growth strategy.
The company previously raised $2.6 million from in 2019 during its seed round of initial funding. A seed round is the round of funding, for initial growth, where a business raises investment to launch its product and go to market. Investors in this round included some from the US.
Futuregrowth Asset Management has led the latest round and set the terms.
