Igglo Oy, the Finnish online estate agency, today announces that it has raised €12.5m in funding led by Benchmark Capital Europe, the top-tier venture capital firm behind eBay, Betfair and Bebo. Co-founder of Igglo, the Taivas Group (part of WPP), is also investing in this round. The funds will be used to accelerate Igglo’s expansion in Europe, with the goal of establishing Igglo as the global leader of next generation online real estate services. Igglo turns the estate agent model on its head by allowing potential buyers to make unsolicited offers for any home. In addition, sellers can find out the real value of their home by advertising on the website for potential offers. Igglo acts as a broker, charging fees to arrange deals between owners, buyers or renters. Currently operating in Finland, Igglo is now the third largest estate agent in Helsinki since its launch eight months ago. It receives 50,000 visitors every week and has arranged more than 300 transactions. Igglo provides the usual estate agency services like buying, selling and consultation, but at half the cost of a traditional agent.

Igglo has built an online database of all the residential properties in the Helsinki area with pictures, maps and statistics, but it is in fact the customers who play an essential role in developing the service. Users are encouraged to add pictures and stories to the website, customising it with their own content and becoming actively involved in the buying and selling of their property. Mikko Ranin, Managing Director of Igglo, commented: “We see Benchmark Capital Europe as an ideal partner for taking the Igglo concept to the world. As a global investor, Benchmark has the reach and knowledge to help us build our network and strategy for penetrating our target global markets.” Jussi Nurmio, Chairman of Igglo Oy and CEO of the Taivas Group, commented: “We have conducted extensive research into the real estate transaction market and we believe there is a huge potential market for Igglo.

In most markets around the world customers consider estate agent fees to be far too high; they question the value of traditional estate agency services and the global market remains fragmented and localised. Igglo is a new concept that could transform the way people buy and sell property around the world.” Johan Brenner, general partner at Benchmark Capital Europe, said: “The €50 billion European consumer real estate market is ripe for overhaul by the second wave of internet services. Igglo is about putting the information and tools, traditionally the domain of the estate agents, into the hands of the consumers in order to enable them to make easy and transparent decisions about their most important assets – their homes”
About Taivas

Taivas Group is a well-established Finnish marketing communications agency which operates in Finland, The Baltic states and Russia. Taivas Group was established in 1996. Taivas marketing communications group works in co-operation with Ogilvy Group, an international marketing communications corporation. The estimated turnover of Taivas Group is £ 45 million in 2006. Taivas Group also consists of associated companies such as the real estate company Igglo, and the interactive entertainment corporation, Sulake. About Igglo

Igglo Oy was founded by Jussi Nurmio and Mikko Ranin together with Taivas Group, a leading marketing and communications group in Scandinavia. Taivas is also a major shareholder of Sulake Corporation Oy, the interactive entertainment company. Sulake created Habbo Hotel, the virtual teen community now in 21 countries. About Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a leading international venture capital firm, committed to helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies which are ultimately focused on long-term growth. Managing US$4 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark’s partners take an active, team-oriented, approach to venture investing.

The firm was founded in the US (Silicon Valley) in 1995, the European office opened in London in 2000 and the Israeli office in 2001. Benchmark Capital Europe has three funds totalling $1.425 billion and has made over 50 investments across a variety of geographies and technology sectors. The European investments include companies such as Betfair (the world’s largest online betting exchange), Setanta (the leading pay-TV sports broadcaster), Bebo (the social networking site), Sulake and MySQL (the open-source database business). Other Benchmark investments include eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT).