UK-based InsurTech firm Reposit has raised £500,000 in a Seed funding round led by Weisz Investments and Avonmore Developments.
Reposit offers tenants the chance to purchase one weeks worth of rent to secure a property, rather than the usual month in hand or more.
At the same time, the Landlord becomes a named beneficiary on Reposit’s insurance policy and is protected for up to six-weeks rent; anything that a deposit would have covered.
If the tenant then stays in the property for the next year, they need to pay an annual fee of £30.
Founded in 2015, this new round brings the total amount raised to £950,000, and will be used to scale the team and create further products across the UK rental market.
As part of this funding, Reposit has also partnered with London insurer Canopius.
Reposit’s CEO and co-founder Jude Greer commented on the news: “Everyone at Reposit has been a tenant and has felt the pain of trying to claw together a tenancy deposit to move into a new property. Paying for one deposit, and waiting for an old one to be released, really highlights a cash flow issue for a lot of people, and there is £4.5Bn of dead cash sitting in tenancy deposit schemes. Cash that could actually have a massive impact if made available to tenants again.
“We also understand that landlords require security and commitment from tenants which influenced how we structured our solution and moved away from a traditional insurance product that would indemnify a tenant, increasing the moral hazard risk. By easing the burden of a six week deposit, we’re speeding up an entire process and helping more people rent property quicker. A win-win for all involved,” he added.
Reposit collected data from 1,000 tenants,and found that 91 percent have paid a deposit, with 49 percent claiming they borrowed the money to fund it from either family, loans or even payday loans.
To date, Reposit is used by over 200 agencies in the UK and claims to have saved its users £1.3m on deposits.
Andrew Weisz of Weisz Investments, who has re-invested into Reposit, said: “Having worked with Reposit over the last two years I was happy to have the opportunity to invest again as the business begins to scale. As the UK government increasingly focuses on the efficiency of the private rented sector, deposit replacement is rapidly coming to be seen as a key area of innovation. Reposit are ideally positioned to succeed in this space. ”
Greer added: “Whilst numbers were fantastic and both landlords and tenants were happy, the market has become more competitive. We made a strategic decision to pause and work on our product and offering, analysing the check-out and claims data of our initial tenant customers. Efficiency in dispute resolution and the check-out for all parties involved, will be the key area where our sector is judged. Having had hundreds of tenants leave properties via Reposit for just over a year now, the learnings we’ve made and improvements to the system are invaluable.”
In addition to investment, Simon Blakey, Partner of Avonmore Developments has joined Reposit’s board. He concluded: “Reposit is being lead by two strong and capable Co-Founders, Jude and Brendan, who are focussed on doing right by their customers and for the industry. The deposit replacement scheme space is still very new, and their passion and customer-centric approach will be key in ensuring they remain a market leader. We’re proud to welcome them into Avonmore Development’s portfolio and believe in the team to deliver on its vision.”