House Crowd launches £1m Seedrs fundraising

The property peer-to-peer lender plans a new millennial investment brand.

Property lender The House Crowd has launched a £1m fundraising, while rival Assetz Exchange has beaten its funding target giving the investment platform a pre-money valuation of £7m.   

Cheshire-based The House Crowd plans to raise the cash by selling 3.4 per cent of itself on crowdfunding site Seedrs, valuing the business at £29m.

The business has funded over 400 properties paying out over £5.7m to investors, since it was founded by chief executive Frazer Fearnhead in 2012.

The House Crowd said it will use the cash to launch a new brand, Money Mog, aimed at millennials. The new service will allow them to invest in a property-backed individual savings account (ISA) from as little as £50.

New products

The peer-to-peer lender also plans to launch a new product range, which includes property-backed innovative finance ISAs and self-invested personal pensions capable of earning up to 10 per cent a year tax free.

Fearnhead said: “Each of our new property-backed products offers an attractive way to gain higher returns without getting involved with stocks and shares.”

The lender will raise cash on platform Seedrs from September 5 from pre-registered users, and September 9 from the public.

Meanwhile, Stockport- based Assetz Exchange has so far raised just over £393,000 also on crowdfunding site Seedrs, beating its target of £350,005 offering investors a 4.8 per cent stake in the business. The fundraising remains open for another four weeks.

‘Institutional buying power’

Assetz Exchange offers retail investors a route to invest in buy-to-let properties and housebuilding projects. Its website launched in May and it currently has two live properties available for investment.

The business said it will use the proceeds to hire staff, marketing and other working capital costs.

Manchester-based peer-to-peer business lender Assetz Capital owns just under a ten per cent stake in Assetz Exchange.

On its Seedrs pitch, the start-up said: “The purpose of Assetz Exchange is to help bring institutional size buying power to a group of investors, working together to acquire properties or house-building projects.”