It is reported that Mashroom, the London proptech that offers an “end-to-end” lettings and property management service, has raised £4 million in a new funding round.
The money has come from existing unnamed private investors and matched funding from the U.K. taxpayer-funded Future Fund. It brings total funding for the company to £7 million.
Readers may recall that Mashroom purchased the collapsed emoov brand and its I.T. for £232,500.
Speaking about the latest fund-raising Mashroom founder Stepan Dobrovolskiy said:
“Letting and renting is, for the most part, still a fragmented, bricks-and-mortar industry.
“The experience as a landlord or tenant normally still involves a traditional estate agent who acts as intermediary and charges a hefty fee.
“While plenty of new players have come along with tech to solve certain points in the experience, we are the first to look at the entire process from end to end.”
While Mashroom digitises almost all the rental process, Dobrovolskiy says some human interaction is necessary.
“Unlike most traditional agents, we are also still there to help after tenants move in — things like maintenance requests, insuring contents, moving out or extending contracts at the end of the tenancy.
“We fundamentally believe that automation and tech should augment rather than replace human interactions in this market, and a big part of our brand is to create better relationships between landlords and tenants.”
Mashroom incentivises tenants to help landlords with viewings at the end of their tenancy by offering a week’s worth of rent as a reward.
“No one knows a property better than people who actually live in it, and it removes a lot of friction to have current tenants schedule and host viewings at times that suit them.”
“This costs less than 2% of annual rent for landlords, compared to paying 10%+ to an estate agent for finding a new tenant. So we are unlocking financial benefits for landlords and tenants at the same time as giving them more flexibility.”
The basic Mashroom service is free for tenants and landlords, the company making its money from financial products, deposit replacement, rent guarantee, and other insurances. The company also has an in-house mortgage broker for buy-to-let mortgages and refinancing for landlords.
Emoov buyer Mashroom spells out its business model ahead of launch
Comments (3)
……….. funding from the U.K. taxpayer-funded Future Fund.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“No one knows a property better than people who actually live in it, and it removes a lot of friction to have current tenants schedule and host viewings at times that suit them.”
And this is why many of these ‘we can do it cheaper’ platforms should be avoided. Haven’t a clue of what is actually involved in lettings management or if they really do, not owning up to the true reality to landlords and more interested in making their own money and hope for the best it doesn’t go pear shaped.
10 lettings listings on zoopla and £2.4m in the red to date.
If the tenant is paid to help with viewings, does that mean they are conducting estate agency work (with all the responsibilities that go with it)?