London-based Acre, a B2B fintech company that claims to be rewiring the mortgage process, announced on Monday that it has secured £6.5M (nearly €7.39M) in a Seed round of funding to grow its tech platform and ‘revolutionise’ the process of buying a home.
Founded in 2017 by Justus Brown, Acre aims to transform the real estate purchasing process so that customers can own a house quickly, easily, transparently, and affordably.
The company’s broker platform uses blockchain technology to place detailed consumer and property data at the centre of the mortgage application process.
Investors in this round
The investment came from The McPike Global Family Office (MGFO) along with follow-on investor Aviva and Founders Factory.
Acre was born out of Founders Factory, a company that serves as an accelerator for startups and provides assistance with product development, market research, and funding.
Aviva Ventures is an investor in Founders Factory and worked with Sesame Bankhall Group to help facilitate Aviva’s investment in Acre.
Drew Colaiezzi, private investments manager with MGFO, says, “We are excited to further our partnerships with Founders Factory and Aviva, and believe Acre is truly an all-encompassing innovative platform that is ripe to take advantage of the quickly evolving UK mortgage market.”
“Justus Brown is a phenomenal operator and has positioned Acre to scale rapidly while demonstrating its significant market disruption capabilities,” adds Colaiezzi.
Capital utilisation
Acre says it will use the funds to launch new collaborations with lenders and insurers that will make it easier for its agents to suggest and apply for the appropriate financial products and services.
The London-based company aims to change the way people buy homes and believes that to deliver on its vision, client data and identity need to be entered and verified once, and shared once throughout the entire home-buying process.
Justus Brown, CEO and founder of Acre, says, “We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation in financial advice, delivering a new, modern approach that simplifies the advice journey for brokers and delivers on the needs of clients.”
“This latest fundraiser demonstrates our strength and commitment to the market and supercharges our ambitions as the tech platform of choice for brokers.”
“For many homebuyers, the financial turmoil of last year led to a greater appreciation of mortgage brokers and this trend is continuing into 2023. We give brokers the right tools, data and insight at the click of a button so that they can excel at delivering speedy, efficient advice that meets the individual requirements of each case in a dynamic market,” adds Brown.
Recent growth
Previously, Acre raised £5M in 2019 led by Aviva and Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG), and followed its spin-out from Founders Factory’s venture studio. The funds helped the company to expand its team to over 30 individuals and accelerate the creation of new features.
This resulted in the company launching its private Beta version of the product to a group of early adopter mortgage companies.
Acre’s latest funding comes after the company witnessed growth in 2022, wherein its platform expanded to over 1300 users, representing over £10B in yearly mortgage traffic, and a 10x increase over the year.
The company also signed its first protection-only company, Intrinsic House. This attracted fastest-growing networks, including Cornerstone Finance Group and Beneficial Network.
Additionally, five integrations, including those with Santander and TSB, went live.
01
Job board for modern workforce: How Remote Talent helps jobseekers find truly remote, distributed work