Barcelona-based proptech firm Inmoself is launching a financing round that it hopes will raise €300,000 ($317,955 U.S.). The company, which launched in February, has so far been self-funded by founder Verónica Parellada Eller (LinkedIn profile), supplemented by a grant from the Spanish government-owned Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (the Center for Technological and Industrial Development).
Apart from operating as a marketplace for international buyers, Inmoself is a provider of online legal services to people living outside the country who wish to buy residential property in Spain. Parellada Eller said, “At Inmoself we aim to help international clients and Spanish expats to conduct a safe remote purchase or sale in Spain.”
She told website Eje Prime, “We incorporated a delegated management operation, through the use of the digital signature, which allows our users to close transactions without having to travel to the country, as well as minimizing bureaucracy. In addition, we verify each property and user to ensure that all processes are carried out in compliance with legal requirements.”
The startup has a substantial addressable market: according to Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain’s national statistics office), foreign nationals accounted for 11.6% of Spain’s population in 2021, with the figure rising to 16.7% in Malaga on the south coast, where foreign immigration accounted for almost two-thirds of population growth during the year.
More broadly, the coastal regions of southern and eastern Spain (Andalucia, Murcia and Valencia) and the Balearic and Canary Islands are popular with relatively affluent buyers from Northern Europe (especially the U.K., Germany, Scandinavia and Russia), who are attracted by the mild climate and long hours of sunshine.
Inmoself says it currently has around 6,000 units on its marketplace and is hoping to increase this figure to 40,000 by the end of the year. It expects to have a turnover of between €150,000 and €240,000 in 2022 and is aiming to break even by the second quarter of next year. It is also planning to launch in the U.S. (specifically Florida) in 2023 and is considering a number of European markets (Italy, Spain, France, Portugal and the U.K.) for expansion in the medium term.
Based in Miami, where she works as a business consultant and M&A adviser, Parellada Eller is a former board member of the Catalan Realtor Association and holds an MBA from the University of South Carolina.