The Venture Codex

Led · Seed · Sep 2021

Homeppl combines anti-fraud technology with Open Banking data to screen tenants, protect landlords from fraud, and reduce discrimination in access to housing. The company says it protected clients from potential losses of more than £3 million during 2021. Homeppl has a team of more than 30 professionals and plans to double its headcount within the next year. The recent funding round raised $1.4 million at a $13.5 million post-money valuation, bringing total seed capital to over $5 million. The proceeds are expected to fund the next phase of growth as the business moves toward a Series A and to support expansion into several European cities. Investors and supporters cited belief in the proposition and the team’s ability to scale. Homeppl is a London-based tenant referencing platform founded by Alexander Siedes. It assesses tenants' real risk level, enabling letting agents to fast-track growth while reducing fraud, default, and delays. The system leverages Open Banking along with proprietary behavioral analysis and fraud detection tests to evaluate tenants' financial situations and ability to afford rent. Homeppl serves large letting firms including Knight Frank and the Countrywide Group and has approved more than £1bn of revenue to its clients. The company is a Barclays Techstars participant. It plans to use new funds to expand further in the UK rental market and to add staff in R&D, operations, and sales.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

Blockpit is a Linz, Austria-based provider of legally compliant and audited tax reports for the treatment of crypto assets, delivered via its Cryptotax software platform. Cryptotax automates calculation of taxable profits from trading cryptocurrencies and from activities such as staking, DeFi, lending, mining, and margin trading. The platform imports data in real time from common exchanges and wallets, standardizes it, and consolidates it into country-specific reports that display taxable profits and other important data. Cryptotax was most recently deployed in Spain and France, and audited tax reports are available across six countries (AT/DE/FR/CH/ES/US). Led by CEO and co-founder Florian Wimmer, Blockpit intends to use the funds to further develop Cryptotax and expand availability into additional countries. The company raised $10m in a Series A round. Blockpit is an Austrian regtech company that provides software to calculate and report transactions from cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets for compliant reporting. Its solution calculates tax liabilities and provides proof of origin for crypto transactions, aiding transparency when profits are converted to other currencies or returned to bank accounts. The company targets the regtech and B2B sector and serves private individuals as well as institutions including banks and tax authorities. Since April, Blockpit has raised more than €2.5 million through a Security Token Offering (STO). Members of the European Super Angels Club also purchased Blockpit's security tokens (TAX tokens), and the club’s 'EXF Alpha' syndication fund doubled down after an initial July 2018 investment. TAX tokens are issued in Austria under Austrian law and guarantee investors the right to a share of future revenue. With the new capital infusion, Blockpit aims to accelerate growth and plans to raise €5 million by the end of the year.