Augmentum Fintech invests in residential rent-to-own specialist – Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) has announced that it has invested £2.5 million in a UK-based residential rent-to-own specialist called Unmortgage This was part of a £10 million fundraising. Augmentum is participating in the fund raising alongside existing investor Exponential Ventures, and other investors.
Unmortgage
Unmortgage will offer a part-own part-rent model of home ownership, requiring as little as 5% deposit with customers paying a market rent on the portion of the home that Unmortgage owns, with the ability to increase the equity in the property as their financial circumstances allow.
The new funds are being raised by Unmortgage to scale the business and take the team from 12 to 40 people before the end of the 2018, prior to launch in 2019.
Comment from Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech,
“One of the things we look for in a potential investment is a business that is genuinely pathfinding in a sector which is ripe for innovation. In too many cases home-ownership remains out of reach for people, and the Unmortgage model addresses in an innovative way how people can access the homes they both need and want. The business is also attracting fintech talent who want to participate in a business that has at its heart a social purpose”.
More on Augmentum Fintech
Augmentum Fintech enables investors to gain exposure to a focused portfolio of fast growing and/or high potential private financial services technology (“fintech”) businesses based predominantly in the UK and wider Europe to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns for shareholders.
The company will invest in early (but not seed) or later stage investments in unquoted fintech businesses which are high growth, with scalable opportunities, and have disruptive technologies in the banking, insurance and asset management sectors, including other cross-industry propositions.
Their premise is that the financial services sector is ripe for disruption; yet to happen in the significant way that has been seen in other sectors such as retail and travel. The UK is at the centre of this disruption due to several factors, including pragmatic regulation and sector “DNA”. The management team sees the opportunity to capitalise on the lower valuations of early stage businesses in Europe, as compared to the US. The substantial demand for post-seed venture capital funding in the European fintech market is creating an equity gap The Management Team will use its expertise, experience and networks in the fintech sector to actively drive value creation in its investee companies, stimulating growth, and positively influencing future financing and exits.
AUGM : Augmentum Fintech invests in residential rent-to-own specialist