Going for the money – three new lettings firms raise funds as they seek expansion – Property Industry Eye

A proptech start-up that is competing against traditional estate and letting agents has raised £7m in funding.

It is one of three lettings-focused enterprises raising money.

Residently, based in the UK but planning to build a global rental platform, will use the money to fund its growth in London, Manchester and and New York.

The business is to offer UK landlords a free full service, including marketing and property management, for six months, starting in September.

The business claims to digitise the rental experience “making life easier for renters and more profitable for landlords”.

Its founder and CEO is serial entrepreneur Tom Allason, who founded Shutl (acquired by eBay) and eCourier, acquired by Royal Mail.

Allason said he wanted to design a rental experience around tenants, having himself had unsatisfactory experiences of renting in several countries.

He said: “We are building the global rental brand by using tech to offer flexibility and smart services to renters.

“We put them first because by improving the experience for renters, we positively disrupt the economic model for property investors and owners – enabling them to maximise their yield with minimum hassle.”

On the platform, renters can search for properties, arrange viewings, take virtual tours, fill in forms, pay deposits and submit reference checks all through their phone.

The company guarantees broadband is set up before arrival, offers flexible move-in dates, and sets up utilities.

Residently also offers services that today’s renters expect, like moving, storage, furniture rental, cleaning and digital locks, all of which they can manage via their app.

The company has achieved a Trustpilot score of 9.5 out of 10.

Separately, a second start-up property rental platform is crowdfunding on Seedrs.

Inadash says it is worth £2.8m, and is offering 11.06% of its business in return for investment of £350,000.

It has already raised some £308,000.

Inadash works with both renters and agents, allowing them to transact in real time and automating processes. Agents also gain access to a “wealth of smart data”, for which they pay a monthly subscription fee.

It says it will use the money raised to work towards its goal of achieving a dominant share of London agents while preparing to scale up into other UK cities.

The chairman of Inadash is industry veteran Michael Stoop, who is also chairman of Belvoir.

https://www.seedrs.com/inadash

The third company to be raising funds, again on Seedrs, has yet to launch its campaign.

However Ideal Flatmate announced yesterday afternoon that it has received over £1.25m in pledges.