The tech revolution sweeping the property world has been broadly led by strikingly fresh-faced talent taking on a sector that is often still dominated by players who have been active in the market for generations.
Chimni wants to be the exception to the rule.
“We like to joke we are the anti-Shoreditch, the middle-aged guys in the west London suburbs trying to solve problems we have encountered as homeowners,” says Nigel Walley, founder and managing director.
The Chiswick-based start-up is aiming to solve the problems around managing the weight and variety of documentation received and needed for reference when running a home.
The business model is to provide a “freemium” service akin to DropBox or Evernote, where a basic service is available free but premium services paid for.
This includes heavy storage demands as well as tailored services to help navigate and handle “pain points” such as buying, selling, remortgaging and major works, for which users will pay between £5 and £8 per month.
If the business grows to the scale that Walley hopes it will, there is also the scope to use the platform to create new revenue streams by utilising data and linking up with utility providers.
Russell Quick, chief executive of online estate agency eMoov, describes it as “the first proper attempt to shift homeowners into the digital age”.
“A lot of proptech is targeted at landlords, service providers and commercial property people,” says Walley.
“We are targeting the 25million people who own their own home.
“Running your own home has becoming increasingly complicated and digital. We like to think of Chimni as a repository where all of that stuff is put.”
While Walley has never been involved in building “big tech” before, he previously ran Decipher, a consultancy specialising in market scoping and consumer development for digital media companies for 15 years.
“I have been involved from the consumer services side and spent more than 20 years looking at consumer research around the adoption of new media services and tech and have been quite immersed in terms of the end user,” he says.
“We also have a young team of developers who are deep in the new tech culture who have built this for us.”
Chimni has developed a working prototype of the software that it is trialling in around 500 homes, a process which it is soon to expand tenfold.
It has been working with residents’ groups and estate agents, setting up accounts with prospective customers when they begin a transactional process.
Future tests have also been agreed with property developers Urban Splash and PocketLiving.
“Almost 200,000 homes sales fail every year because people can’t put their hands on the right documentation,” says Walley.
“I think the problem has gotten worse in terms of the number of forms, certificates, guarantees and warrantees that we are asked for when mortgaging or selling a property.
“In a utopian world where someone has a complete Chimni log they will be sale-ready.”
Early feedback has been positive from those who have been taking part in the trial.
“We have had lovely feedback from people using it. A lot of relief, which has been one of the overwhelming emotions from users as we help them tidy up the mess that doing anything around the house can cause.”
In targeting the homeowner market there is no doubt that Chimni is thinking big.
It is envisaging adoption not only in the UK, but internationally.
If the company wins the £150,000 of investment on offer come the finale of the TechTalk Academy on 15 November, it will use the proceeds as an early pre-seed, accelerating the programme of development on its core infrastructure that will allow it to make a play for the US market.
So with the huge potential such an investment might bring, is Walley nervous at the prospect of being grilled by the likes of British Land’s Chris Grigg, Prestbury’s Nick Leslau and former Goldman Sachs chief Mike Sherwood?
That is where experience comes in. “It’s going to be good fun and when you’re 53 and have been doing presentations all your life, I don’t get particularly stressed,” he says.
Pi Labs says: “Our team appreciated the gap in the market that Chimni is addressing, as well as the team’s experience and their perseverance in developing the business.”
Tune in to a special episode of the TechTalk Radio podcast next week to hear from all six finalists in EG’s TechTalk Academy.
Click here to find out more about how to bag your place at the event.
To send feedback, e-mail david.hatcher@egi.co.uk or tweet @hatcherdavid or @estatesgazette
