Founder Stories - Auctree

We were delighted to have been introduced to Marc Fluvia (CEO) and Mike Cooper (CTO) of Auctree via existing portfolio founder, James Nightingale. Following an exciting and streamlined process, we partnered with Mike & Marc and were chosen to lead their recent pre-seed round. We sat down with both co-founders to discuss why and how they’re building Europe's leading distressed real estate marketplace. 

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Background

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Where were you born, and where did you grow up? 

Marc: Barcelona, Spain.

Mike: Bristol, UK.

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Where are you based today?

We're both based here in London, but we do also have a Barcelona office - soon to open a Madrid one too!

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Have you ever started a company before?

Marc: Yes, spend 1.5 yrs building twins app (https://www.twins-app.com/). My very first venture was a travel company helping last year High School students from the UK organise their easter holidays in Spain.

Mike: Yes, twice, with varying degrees of success. 

• Before starting Auctree, I co-founded Canary & Delta - A London-based software company that specilaised in building highly scaleable media products. 
• At University, I co-founded Tapbooks - a platform designed to combine an E-book & Audiobook into a single cohesive experience, partnering with publishers including Pearson. 

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Business

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How would you describe Auctree?

Auctree is a property marketplace which enables homeowners and investors to sell foreclosed, dated, or damaged homes; and allows property investors to buy and fix them up.

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So you founded Auctree in 2021 - what was the ‘aha’ moment for you and how long had you planned to start this business?

We saw the inefficiencies around judicial auctions when working for one of our existing clients. After 3 years, we understood the industry well enough to start this business and jumped on the opportunity as the pandemic hit. 

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What have you learnt about your industry that may surprise others?

‍It’s a very relationship oriented industry, and sometimes it’s not just about having a superior product but also about being able to project credibility among key players.

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What's Next?

Where do you want to take Auctree?

‍Allow more people to access the property ladder by offering the most affordable properties than one can find.

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Why will you win this market?

‍Because we are building barriers to entry at a rate that incumbents can not keep up with.

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What sort of roles and people are you looking to join the Auctree journey? 

We're hiring for a lot of roles to be honest:

• HR Manager,
• Marketing Associate,
• Sales (SDR, AE, AM),
• Full Stack Software Devs,
• and Portfolio Managers

You can see all our vacancies here: https://auctree.notion.site/About-Us-80e2a3703d6c4c2d8814813b9e1bb711

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Why should prospective employees come and work for Auctree?

• Team: Since the very beginning, we have been laser focused in keeping the bar of our team extremely high. For anybody coming into our team today, it is a truly unique environment to grow and learn from truly exceptional individuals while being part of an environment where people deeply believes in what we are building.

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• Industry: Real estate is both the biggest asset class in the world and one of the most inefficient industries that exist. The amount of disruption that we will see over the next decades makes it a great space to build a career in (https://a16z.com/2018/11/29/software-real-estate-rampell-summit/).

How come you chose to work with Concept?

‍Because of their team.

From the very beginning we felt that Olly and Reece would not only be capital partners but also people who would support us in our journey building this business by providing advice, valuable introductions and help in many other forms. After having partnered with them for a few months, we are thrilled to know that we were absolutely right.

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Where should any prospective customers/investors/employees learn more about you?

• Customers: www.auctree.com (phone numbers available)
• Investors: marc.fluvia@auctree.com / mike.cooper@auctree.com 
• Employees: https://auctree.notion.site/About-Us-80e2a3703d6c4c2d8814813b9e1bb711

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