Renthusiast2.0

London property search engine Zoomf.com has secured a major round of funding from venture capitalists HOWZAT Media LLP; although there’s currently no indication of how much money HOWZAT is actually putting into Zoomf, it is indeed a great achievement for a company that’s been around for just a little over 6 months. We’ve asked Zoomf executives for an indication of figures; so far no response; but we do know that HOWZAT is a group of private investors specializing in Internet investment, currently boasting US$10 million in investment capital. The group is headed by Hugo Burge and David Soskin, both of Cheapflights Ltd and Burge is also slated to join Zoomf’s board of directors, which is currently made up of

• CEO Rod Dowler a former KPMG partner;
• “technology wizard” Dr David Romano-Critchley formerly of Espotting;
• Business Development director Mike Carter, a veteran online advertising executive, having worked for MIVA, Ask Jeeves, Touch local and others;
• and of course Product Director Ivailo Jordanov, also formerly with Espotting Media.

From the release:

HOWZAT co-founder and Vice-Chairman of Cheapflights Ltd., Hugo Burge
“We were attracted to investing in Zoomf not only because of their cutting edge product but also because of the wealth of experience in the founding team. The Zoomf team has a raft of experience in online media, pan-European roll-out, search engine technology and the management of growth organisations. We are confident that they will use the funds raised further to innovate and introduce new products to meet the needs of both consumers and the property sector.”
Rod Dowler, Zoomf Chief Executive added, “HOWZAT is an ideal source of funding for us. Not only is HOWZAT focused on dotcoms such as ours, its management has had hands-on experience of developing and growing Cheapflights – one of the UK’s most successful vertical search sites, both in the UK and in the USA. They are a perfect partner for us.”
He added,” Our goal is to create something that’s both agent and consumer-centric, providing a superb service in one of the most economically important sectors in the UK. At present, Zoomf is available only to London agents, but we intend to roll it out nationwide later this year. Zoomf will eventually provide the opportunity for free property listings to every estate agent office in the UK”.
David Soskin, the CEO of Cheapflights and co-founder of HOWZAT, concluded by adding: “We very much look forward to working with this ‘dream team’ and helping them move from beta start-up to successful international company. All the ingredients feel right; now begins the hard work to make it happen.”

Job well done and in the words of Ivailo Jordanov “Game on!”