CVC is taking a majority stake in OpenRent as part of a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the rental platform’s growth and development of new technology.
OpenRent founders Adam Hyslop and Darius Bradbury will remain significant shareholders and continue to lead the business as chief executive and chief technology officer respectively.
Founded in 2012, OpenRent provides services spanning property advertising, tenant search and selection, referencing, contracts, deposits and rent collection through its direct landlord-to-tenant model.
The platform has a community of more than 8.8 million landlords and tenants and says more than one in five UK tenancies now runs through its services.
CVC is a global private markets manager focused on private equity, secondaries, credit and infrastructure with a global network of 30 local offices and €212bn of assets under management.
Following the investment, OpenRent plans to develop new tools for landlords and tenants and invest further in its platform, with a focus on reducing administration, complexity and costs throughout the rental process.
Hyslop said: “Fourteen years later, OpenRent has become a trusted part of the market – and we still see enormous opportunity ahead.
“CVC shares our ambition and brings experience and resources that can help us accelerate the next stage of growth, broaden what we offer customers and create even more value for landlords and tenants.”
Bradbury added: “Our roadmap is full of new tools to empower landlords and tenants throughout the entire rental lifecycle, while making sure the product they already use keeps feeling delightfully simple at every turn.
“This partnership lets us build it all faster, with even more powerful technologies, and fulfil the vision for renting we’ve held since 2012.”
Jean-Pierre Saad, managing partner at CVC, described OpenRent as a “category-leading platform” and said it was well placed to help landlords and tenants manage the increasing complexity of the rental process.
Thomas Eberle, senior managing director at CVC, added that there was “significant opportunity” to broaden OpenRent’s offering across the rental journey.
The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to complete later this year.
