Goodlord raises £7.2m for online tenancy signatures services
Proptech company Goodlord has raised £7.2m ($8.9m) in a funding round which included contributions from Ribbit Capital, LocalGlobe and Global Founders Capital. Goodlord's white-label, cloud-based platform is used by 300 letting agency branches and 85,000 landlords, and allows tenants and landlords to sign tenancy agreements online, as well as make payments and submit references. The new funds will be used to improve technology and recruit more staff.

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A proptech firm started by a former Foxtons agent has raised £7.2m in investment from venture capitalists.

Goodlord – a service which allows agents, tenants and landlords to sign tenancy agreements online – was founded in 2014 by Richard White, now 29, and brothers Tom and Philip Mundy.

Its latest fundraising comes after a £2m investment last May.

Goodlord allows the taking of deposits, referencing and signing agreements to be done online. Tenants can also pay online, through a cloud-based app.

The white-labelled service is currently used by 300 letting agency branches – up from 200 a year ago – plus 85,000 agents and landlords.

It claims to cut costs and administration significantly for agents, while improving service levels for tenants and landlords.

It says that a tenancy agreement can be executed very quickly, saving agents 50% to 75% of their admin costs, and describes its mission as making it as easy to rent a home as it is to make online payments with Paypal.

The £7.2m injection comes from new investor Ribbit Capital, alongside existing investors LocalGlobe and Global Founders Capital.

Goodlord says the money will enable it to improve the technology behind its service and continue its goal of revolutionising the rental market.

It will also significantly increase its headcount, and expects to employ 117 people by this summer, up from just 11 a year ago.

Goodlord, which has already processed tenancies worth more than £200m, sells its cloud-based platform to customers including Strutt & Parker, Life Residential and Remax.

White, chief executive, said: “Generation Rent has been getting a raw deal up to now. Not only are they priced out of buying a home, they are often having to deal with slow, shoddy service when they try to rent a place.

“This funding will allow us to move to the next stage in our plan to revolutionise the way that rental property lettings are done, taking away the pain for both landlords and tenants.

“More and more people will be renting their homes for longer.

“They want to see quick, professional and efficient service from both agents and landlords.

“Goodlord can provide this in a way that is familiar to a generation that expects to complete purchases, order take-aways and hail a taxi using their phone in seconds.”

Meyer Malka, partner at Ribbit Capital, said: “We see huge potential for disruption in the way that rental property in the UK is transacted.

“Goodlord is using technology to build transparency and ease of use for one of the most important moments in a consumer’s life: choosing a home to live in.”

George Henry, partner at LocalGlobe, said: “For people under 37, the rental property market is the property market.

“Goodlord is developing products that can serve agents, landlords and tenants, all from the same app. For too long, tenants have been poorly served by this market.

“Goodlord will make it more transparent and efficient and is already proving extremely popular with agents and landlords across the country.”