Private placement · Cape Town · Seed round
Private property sales, on WhatsApp. At commission to the seller.
Sold Direct manages the private sale — listing, buyer enquiry, bond, offer and transfer — over WhatsApp, with registered property practitioners involved at each step. On the qualifying path the seller pays no commission. Revenue comes from bond origination, paid by the lender.
Raising
R5m for 20%
R20m pre-money
Revenue source
Bond origination
Paid by the lender, not the seller
Status
Product built
End-to-end flow demonstrable; WhatsApp sender pending approval
Y5 revenue (base case)
R162m
EBITDA-positive from Year 2
Proposition
The proposition.
1 · The gap
The property portals sell private sellers a flat-fee listing. After the enquiry, the seller handles pricing, viewings, the offer, the bond, FICA and transfer alone. Full-service agents provide all of this for 5–7% plus VAT, which suits most sellers. A segment prefers to sell direct and is not served between those two options.
2 · The product
Sold Direct takes the seller from listing to registered transfer within WhatsApp. The platform handles the administration; registered property practitioners (PPRA, Fidelity Fund Certificate) and a concierge are involved on every transaction.
3 · The revenue model
A South African property purchase financed by a bond carries an origination fee paid by the lender. Sold Direct earns that fee — through BetterBond in Year 1, as an originator in its own right from Year 2 — so the sale costs the seller on the qualifying path and a disclosed 1% otherwise.
Product demonstration
The product, step by step.
One Cape Town home from the first message to registered transfer: Quick Estimate, Property Report, listing, buyer pre-qualification, offer and transfer, with each point at which revenue arises marked. Press Play, or step through it.
Sold Direct
Maria · Seller
Step 1 / 62
Deal status tracker
- 1Listing→
- 2Enquiry→
- 3Offer (OTP)→
- 4Bond→
- 5Docs & FICA→
- 6Clearance→
- 7Lodgement→
- 8Registered
Two entry points
Every advertisement, portal listing and site button opens WhatsApp with LIST or PRICE pre-filled. A seller who wants only a price and a seller ready to list arrive at the same menu; neither path depends on the other.
What to watch for
- RevenueWhere Sold Direct earns
- FinanceBond / affordability
- LegalConveyancing & compliance
- POPIAConsent & data privacy
- ProductWhatsApp UX & tracking
Try the seller flow.
The seller flow below runs the production conversation code — the same listing-intake state machine and copy as the WhatsApp service — in your browser, with no server behind it. Type “list” to begin.
Opens in a new tab. Nothing entered is stored or transmitted. Price guidance in the demonstration is illustrative.
The round
R5m for 20%.
R5m at a R20m pre-money valuation. Until the business is self-funding it runs on four people: the two founders at R50,000 a month each, covering marketing, management, transactions, bookkeeping and technical support; a principal practitioner who also holds compliance; and an agent. There is no office, and hires beyond the four are made only against signed mandates. The round covers the modelled cash trough in every scenario; the balance funds the Cape Town launch.
Seed round
R5m for 20%
R20m pre-money · R25m post-money
The round covers the modelled cash trough in all three scenarios. Operations run on a four-person team until the business is EBITDA-positive, modelled in Year 2. A Series A is modelled at Year 3 and is optional in the base case.
Use of funds
- Cape Town launch and brand campaign
- Four-person team: founders, principal practitioner, agent
- Product and technology; partner integrations (WhatsApp, BetterBond, conveyancers)
- Compliance and licensing: PPRA and FFC, POPIA programme, FAIS/FSP groundwork for in-house origination
Further detail
Further detail.
Summaries follow. The full model, assumptions with sources, cap table and partner terms are in the data room.
Financial summaryRevenue of R6.1m in Year 1 to R162.3m in Year 5; EBITDA-positive from Year 2. Base case, reviewed by a chartered accountant.
Base case from the model reviewed by a chartered accountant: 27% corporate tax, headcount sized for delivery, and revenue the Legal Practice Council prohibits removed. The full workbook is in the data room.
R6.1m
Y1
R20.2m
Y2
R46.8m
Y3
R94.7m
Y4
R162.3m
Y5
EBITDA-positive
Year 2
Four-person team until self-funding
Gross margin
~88%
Cost of sales built bottom-up at about 12% of revenue
Y5 enterprise value
R649–974m
At 4–6× revenue, discounted from global proptech comparables
Illustrative return
Select an investment amount. Figures derive from the base-case model.
R1 000 000
- Your stake at R25m post-money
- 4.00%
- Modelled value at the base-case exit (about R811m enterprise value in Year 5, after Series A dilution)
- R27 000 000 (~27×)
Illustrative only, from the model-grade base case (exit at 5× Year 5 revenue, after an optional Series A). Not a forecast, guarantee or offer. Early-stage investment carries risk, including loss of capital.
Projections are illustrative and model-grade, not a forecast or guarantee. The reviewed workbook, with inputs, sources and reliability flags per line, is available in the data room under NDA.
Revenue linesBond origination is the principal line: 0.5% of the bond through BetterBond in Year 1, about 1.5% in-house from Year 2.
Year 1 — BetterBond referral
0.5% of the bond
Qualifying bonds of 80% or more are placed through BetterBond, a registered multi-bank originator. The buyer retains full choice of lender; the lender pays the fee.
Year 2 onward — origination in-house
~1.5% of the bond
Sold Direct becomes an originator in its own right, dealing directly with the banks, at about three times the referral rate.
Bond origination
The principal line: about R29k per qualifying transaction in Year 1 and about R78k in Year 2 once in-house, paid by the lender.
Bank headline sponsorship
An annual platform sponsorship from one featured bank. Advertising only, with no steering of buyers. R3m in Year 1 rising to R8m in Year 5.
Conveyancer panel advertising
Fixed annual subscriptions, R0.36m rising to R2.4m. No referral fees, which the Legal Practice Council prohibits. Sellers using the panel receive a 30–40% fee discount.
1% facilitation fee
On cash, sub-80%-bond or non-partner transactions, disclosed up front. For reference, a full-service sale is typically 5–7% plus VAT.
Blended revenue per registered transaction
Y1
R55.7k
BetterBond referral
Y2
R70.6k
Origination in-house
Y5
R52.4k
Price taper
The Year 5 figure is lower because the average transacting price in the model tapers from R6.5m to R4.0m as the business broadens from prime Cape Town into the wider upper market. This is a mix change and is built into the model.
ProductScope of the transfer process covered, cost of delivery, registered practitioners, and the cost base.
Scope
The flow covers the South African transfer process: offer to purchase, suspensive conditions, Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) checks, rates clearance, lodgement and registration at the Deeds Office, and bond pre-qualification.
Cost of delivery
Listing intake, buyer qualification, offer assembly, document collection and status updates run through the platform over WhatsApp, with people reviewing each transaction. This is what allows a price on the qualifying path.
Registered practitioners
Practitioners registered with the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and holding Fidelity Fund Certificates assist both parties. Registration and an FFC are a precondition to taking any mandate; the status is set out in the data room. Full-service agents remain the right choice for sellers who want one.
Cost base
Four people in Year 1 — two founders, a principal practitioner and an agent — rising to 96 by Year 5 in the model, mostly practitioners and support staff. Gross margin is modelled at about 88%, with the surplus directed to marketing.
MarketAn addressable market of about R6.25bn a year. Entry at prime Cape Town, broadening into the national upper market.
An addressable market of about R6.25bn a year. Entry is at prime Cape Town, where the average transacting price is R6.5m, broadening into the national upper market with the average tapering to R4.0m by Year 5. Listings are distributed through the existing portals as an agency-grade feed; Sold Direct is a customer of the portals rather than a competitor to them.
TAM
R6.25bn/yr
Addressable revenue across about 250,000 annual SA transfers
SAM
R1.8bn/yr
Upper market (above about R4m): about 35,000 transfers a year
SOM (base case, Y5)
8.3%
Of upper-market transactions; 1.16% of all SA transfers
In the base case, sellers using the platform retain about R733m a year by Year 5, and about R1.46bn cumulatively, that a full-service sale at the 6% plus VAT benchmark would have cost. Full-service agents continue to serve the majority of sellers; Sold Direct serves those who choose to sell direct.
Status and partnersWhat is built, and the launch partnerships in progress: BetterBond, LOOM, Capture Media and Paysoft.
The end-to-end flow is built and can be demonstrated. The WhatsApp sender is pending Meta approval. Launch partnerships are in progress.
- WhatsApp journey end to end: listing, enquiry, consented bond pre-qualification, offer, transfer tracking
- Deal state machine for the SA transfer: offer to purchase, bond, FICA, clearance, lodgement, registration
- Internal dashboard; public marketing site with waitlist
- Typed end to end, automated tests, continuous integration; privacy by design under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA)
TeamTwo full-time founders and a technology partner providing the CTO function.
Two full-time founders, a technology partner providing the CTO function, and a reserved non-executive seat. The cap table and terms are in the data room.
Johannes le Roux
Co-founder · Marketing Director
Property Studies, UCT. Founded and sold three consumer brands. Responsible for brand, marketing and the seller funnel, which is the largest use of the seed capital.
Dean Kruger
Co-founder · Managing Director
Architecture, UCT. Commercial architect; lead on the Babylonstoren development. Responsible for delivery, partnerships and the transfer operation.
Paysoft
Technology partner · CTO function
Provides the CTO function and engineering delivery of the platform at preferred development rates. Its equity vests as that development is delivered.
Board seat
Reserved · Non-executive
A reserved allocation for a non-executive director with property, banking or consumer-brand experience, to be appointed before the Series A.
Questions and answersSustainability of 0%, the position on agents, the conveyancer line, Purplebricks, sufficiency of the round, risks, and the terms.
+Why is 0% commission sustainable?
Because the revenue comes from the lender rather than the seller. Origination earns 0.5% of the bond through BetterBond in Year 1 and about 1.5% in-house from Year 2, and the platform keeps the cost of handling each transaction low. Non-qualifying transactions pay a disclosed 1% fee.
+What is the position on estate agents?
Sold Direct is complementary to full-service agents, not opposed to them. Full-service remains the right choice for the majority of sellers; Sold Direct serves sellers who choose to sell direct, assisted by PPRA-registered practitioners. The industry describes a similar division of work: RE/MAX Southern Africa’s leadership has said technology should handle administration, after-hours enquiries and buyer qualification while people provide judgement and the relationship (Property Professional, October 2026).
+Is the conveyancer revenue line permitted?
Yes. It is structured around Legal Practice Council rules: attorneys pay no referral fees. Panel firms pay fixed annual advertising subscriptions, and sellers who use the panel receive a 30–40% conveyancing fee discount.
+What is the relevance of Purplebricks?
It is the comparable the plan is managed against. Purplebricks failed on marketing-led customer acquisition cost and over-expansion. Sold Direct enters at prime Cape Town, where demand is largely referral-driven, broadens only as the brand establishes itself, and runs a small cost base with headcount sized for delivery.
+Is R5m sufficient?
In every modelled scenario, yes. Year 1 runs on four people at R150,000 a month in total: the two founders at R50,000 each, a principal practitioner who also holds compliance at R30,000, and an agent at R20,000. There is no office, hires beyond the four are made only against signed mandates, and Paysoft carries the build. That removes about R5m from the pre-breakeven cost base without reducing revenue, marketing or compliance spend, and brings EBITDA-positive forward to Year 2. On a monthly view the Year 1 cash trough is about R2m to R3m, which the round covers with about R2.5m to spare in the base case and about R1m in the conservative case. Capital is released in two tranches against milestones. The runway check is on the Scenarios tab of the model.
+What are the principal risks?
Three. The Year 2 move to in-house origination requires FAIS/FSP accreditation and bank aggregation agreements, with Year 1 through BetterBond as the bridge. Marketing-to-transaction conversion is the central growth assumption and is validated in a Cape Town pilot. The estimate of about 35,000 upper-market transfers a year requires primary confirmation. Each is documented with sources in the data room.
+What is on offer?
20% of Sold Direct for R5m at a R20m pre-money valuation, alongside the two founders at 32.5% each, Paysoft at 10% vesting, a reserved option pool of 4% and a reserved non-executive board seat of 1%. The base-case model gives the seed about 27× at exit. Full terms, the reviewed model and the cap table are in the data room under NDA.
What happens nextThe process from here to an allocation.
- Request access; the data room opens under NDA
- Review the model, assumptions and cap table
- Meet the founders and see the product
- Confirm allocation and subscription terms
Data room.
The reviewed model workbook, assumptions with sources, cap table, scenarios and partner terms, shared under NDA.
Prefer email? johannes@solddirect.co.za
This page is informational only. It is not an offer of securities to the public, nor a solicitation to invest, and any investment opportunity is available by private placement to selected investors only (Companies Act, 2008). Nothing here constitutes financial, legal or tax advice (FAIS). All projections are illustrative, model-grade and unaudited; actual results may differ materially. Detailed financials, the cap table and partner terms are shared under NDA. Personal information submitted via this page is processed in accordance with POPIA.