Image: © Pormez/Stock.adobe.com
Property management and lettings platform Howsy has raised £5m to scale its business and look at opportunities outside the UK.
Howsy, a property management and lettings platform founded in 2016, announced on Tuesday (3 September) that it has closed a £5m funding round.
The business, which is one of a number of UK start-ups focusing on disrupting the lettings industry, says it is “pioneering a radical step change” in the rental sector.
Howsy’s platform provides end-to-end property management for UK landlords, from finding tenants to managing repairs and renewals.
Using technology and insurance products, the start-up offers a low, fixed-fee management cost to landlords, with the aim of saving them thousands of pounds a year compared to high-street letting agents.
Based in Shoreditch, London, the start-up claims it was the first national company to abolish renter fees, three years before a nationwide ban was implemented.
Fresh funding
Howsy’s latest funding round was led by London-based global wealth management business, Skybound Capital.
A spokesperson for Howsy said: “The latest round of funding will allow Howsy to open a new operations centre in Coventry as well as expand its team, with the company making a number of high-profile hires in senior positions.”
These hires include Marc Harris, who will join the executive team as CTO. In this role, he will focus on the rapid acceleration of Howsy’s technological innovation, enabling the company to grow at “significant scale”. Harris previously led the tech divisions of enterprise social media platform CrowdControlHQ and software company BigHand.
Howsy is also hiring former PayPal marketing director Mark Hodson as its new CMO, while Steven Kemp will join as COO, coming from delivery company Shutl, which was acquired by eBay.
‘It will enable us to scale fast as well as look at opportunities outside of the UK. We’re aiming to make renting a property as easy as booking a hotel’
– CALUM BRANNAN, HOWSY CEO
Howsy also has plans to make a number of acquisitions with the funding to help with its expansion plans.
Founder and CEO Calum Brannan said: “We’re delighted to close on our largest funding round to date and this really cements our current position as one of the leading prop-tech companies in the UK.
“We think that renting should be better for everyone. Landlords and tenants have been underserved in this industry and we are rapidly shaking it up through great technology and a focus on customer service.
“This latest raise, along with a few strategic acquisitions, should not only help us in our mission, but it will enable us to scale fast as well as look at opportunities outside of the UK. We’re aiming to make renting a property as easy as booking a hotel.”
