London-based Propio, a platform that aims to serve as the home of The Property ISA by providing a “simple, affordable, and tax-efficient way” to invest in property, reveals that it has secured £278,000 in capital from its funding round and the UK government’s Future Fund.
The funds raised will be used by the company to make the necessary preparations for its postponed launch into peer to peer (P2P) lending in the coming months.
In April 2020, Propio’s management had stated that they had suspended the issuance of new mini-bonds and were in the process of taking part in an investment round to prepare for the company’s launch into the P2P lending sector. The launch was expected in May or June 2020, however, it was reportedly delayed because a key investor backed out due to socioeconomic challenges created by the Coronavirus.
Propio, which focuses on bridging, development, and residential lending, has introduced a private funding round which netted £139,000 in capital and also used the UK government’s Future Fund, which has been providing convertible loans, in order to match investments.
Propio’s management stated that they will be using the capital to obtain its appointed representative permissions from Rebuildingsociety. The lender said it will also use the funds to expand its volumes and upgrade its technology stack, so that it can get ready for its planned launch later this year.
Tom Buttress, co-founder and CEO at Propio said that the Future Fund is “a much-needed and welcome initiative for us.”
Buttress added:
“It’s gotten us out of a difficult situation when an institutional investor pulled out. It’s taken a long time during Covid-19 to move things forward but we’re in good shape. We just want to thank the current investors who continued to believe in the team and the business behind it.”
He continued:
“We’ve raised about £15m through the platform to date but through bond investments and now we’re switching to become P2P. We have strong foundations to kick on from and these latest funds will help us do that.”
He further noted that the company’s loanbook is in good shape and that’s a result of proper underwriting and credit decisioning that Propio has implemented during the past few years.
He claims that the company has a “really strong customer satisfaction” based on its Trustpilot rating. Buttress added that the platform’s investors are satisfied with its average return of 6.3% which Propio believes will not drop.