Led · Series A · Sep 2019

Lavanda builds property management software that lets institutional owners and operators rent inventory by the day, week, month or year alongside conventional tenancies. The product targets multifamily, student accommodation and serviced apartment sectors and is used by institutional customers including Greystar, Blackstone, Hines, Nuveen and Aldar. Founded in 2015, the company has seen growth across the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Australia. The new capital will be deployed to accelerate product development, add a raft of new features and expand the team. Management positions the platform as a way for landlords to outperform conventional rental yields by tapping into short- and medium-term demand. CEO Frederik Lerche-Lerchenborg said the funding is a step toward becoming the de facto technology platform for more flexible, accessible and affordable living. Lavanda provides an award-winning SaaS platform for property managers to institutionalize compliance and legally profit from short- and medium-term rentals. The company pivoted from a laundry sharing-economy origin to focus on the short-term rental market. Its product addresses rapidly evolving laws and regulatory complexity, helping landlords and hospitality professionals manage listings safely and cost-effectively. Lavanda serves over 10,000 rental units and works with major real-estate portfolios including JLL, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Savills, LaSalle, Long Harbour and Europa Capital. The business raised $5 million in a Series A led by Henley to continue streamlining and legitimising the market. The funding will accelerate growth in the UK and support planned expansion into the US and Middle East. Lavanda is a London-based full-service property management and lettings company led by founder Guy Westlake. It enables landlords and homeowners to let properties across major online platforms without handling cleaning or day-to-day property management. Lavanda markets listings as short, medium, or long-term lets on Rightmove, Zoopla, Airbnb and Booking.com to maximize occupancy and returns. The company also provides a property analytics platform that gives total insight into cost bases and helps users optimize net yield. In July 2017 Lavanda raised £1m in funding from backers including Kenny Bruce, Harry Hill and Terry Leahy. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its business reach. Lavanda operates an on-demand laundry platform that uses a network of hyper-local self-employed 'Lavanda Pros' who undertake delivery and/or the laundry itself from their homes. The company emphasizes immediate, on-demand service rather than advance bookings and supplies Pros with equipment and training. Lavanda is currently accessible via a mobile-optimized website and plans to launch native iOS and Android apps in the coming weeks. It positions its pricing to be similar to or cheaper than competitors while offering 100% flexibility at no additional cost. Lavanda has raised capital to support expansion beyond Central London and to build its apps. The business faces strong competition from players such as ZipJet, Laundrapp, Washbox, Spyn, ihateironing.com, and LaundryRepublic, and acknowledges marketing will be a key challenge given its modest backing.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2019

askporter is a London-based AI-focused property management software startup launching a digital assistant called Porter. Porter harnesses AI to solve monotonous tasks required across property management and is accessible 24/7. The assistant supports teams with arranging viewings and inspections, resolving issues, and chasing rental arrears. The company raised £1.5m in seed funding to continue expanding operations and its business reach. Backers included Plug and Play, Venture University, Pi Labs, WISAG FM and Henley Investments. The company is led by CEO Tom Shrive. AskPorter provides an AI-enabled property management software platform with multimodal (voice and chat) capabilities for tenants and property managers. Its assistant, Porter, runs over 30 chat flows for tasks such as property inspection guidance and boiler troubleshooting. The solution integrates Google Cloud AI for recommending next steps and uses Twilio for communications. AskPorter reports supporting over 500,000 properties and one million tenants. The company said it will use recent funding to hire and to prepare for a larger Series A round in 2019. The CEO and founder is Tom Shrive, and the company is based in London. AskPorter is a London-based provider of an AI-driven property and facilities management messaging platform. Co‑founded in 2016 by Tom Shrive and Sam Tassell, the platform features an AI assistant that automates tasks, reports and notifications. The product is designed to optimize property and facilities management by reducing administrative work and lowering management costs while improving customer satisfaction. AskPorter partners with Adiuvo, a call handling service for the UK property management industry. In January 2018 the company raised more than £500k and intends to use the funds to expand adoption of its platform nationally.