Over £1m boost for repair service aiming at private ...

Over 175 investors have put well over a combined £1m into a property management tech business targeting landlords.

Digital platform EVO - which already works with some Build To Rent and social housing companies - sought £1m of investment via crowdfunding site Seedrs but has exceeded that total.

The EVO platform describes itself as one “which connects landlords, tenants and tradespeople with simple, easy to use technology.”

Currently EVO is instructed on over 5,500 properties for both private and public sector landlords, set to rise to 12,500 properties with current instructions. EVO also works in partnership with some London Borough Councils via the horganisation Capital Letters.

With its new funding EVO aims to scale up considerably with a target to onboard over 300,000 properties by 2026, which represents 3.0 per cent of the UK repairs market. They plan to do this by targeting private landlords, major lettings agents and aggregators, and social housing providers and large scale property investors.

Steven Rae, chief executive of EVO, says: “Our fundraising target has already been reached via Seedrs and … we are confident that we can push this higher, allowing us to build more partnerships and reach more people who rent. We have a tangible growth strategy which will take EVO nationwide and offer both capital investors and members of the public the opportunity to access growing returns while boosting their social impact activities.

“We know that the UK’s property rental market needs fixing and we, and our many clients, partners and tenants, believe we have the solution. The investment level surpassing our target so early on in the round underpins this. This is a chance to scale our services up and remove swathes of administration from landlords up and down the country who have been leaving the PRS in droves because of various hurdles.

“For housing providers we are able to enhance the customer experience by accelerating repairs within the tenants’ control and, perhaps most importantly, for temporary accommodation and social housing we are able to speed up the fixing of hundreds of units that weren’t up to living standards, helping to house those on waiting lists who have a right to safe, secure and healthy housing.”

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