We’ve just raised $100m in Series C funding, here’s what we plan to do next.
When Emre and I embarked on the Plentific journey, we had big ambitions for the company. Those ambitions are now being realised and it goes without saying that we, and the whole team, are incredibly excited about where our latest investment will take us.
Since we launched in 2013, we’ve had phenomenal growth. In under a decade, we have gone from two people around a kitchen table in South London to more than 200 employees, with four international offices in the UK, Germany, Turkey and the USA (and members of the team in many countries in between). When we set out, we wanted to make property services work better for everyone involved, landlords, residents and service providers, and so it brings us great joy to know that not only do we now have 350,000 properties under management, but we’ve helped almost 20,000 contractors find more work and, in many cases, build their own businesses, as well as ensure countless residents are living in safe and well-maintained homes. We’ve grown our solutions from one product and a marketplace of contractors to a full suite of tools to help landlords and housing providers manage more of the repairs, maintenance and compliance process than ever before.
But we still have grand plans. There will be no resting on our laurels.
How will we use the funding?
Ultimately, we’ll be using the financing to scale further and more quickly, and to offer our clients more solutions using cutting-edge technology. What will that look like?
Earlier this year we launched in the US, so first and foremost is to expand rapidly on the other side of the Atlantic. That will mean we will be significantly growing the team in order to support client acquisition and to build out the marketplace of service providers stateside. We’ll also be doubling down on our strategic growth plans in the UK and Germany and so more staff across all markets will be a priority.
We have always wanted to provide our clients with the best possible technological solutions to their problems and so we’ll be investing more into product development. We’ll be looking at how we integrate Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) into our current product lines, as well as where it can support new solutions. The Plentific platform has already become integral to how our clients deliver repairs and maintenance and we want to support them further by working on how we integrate materials management into the platform, as well as asset management. For service providers, we also want to increase the functionality of the platform to integrate more Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools so they can manage more of their business through Plentific. The goal is to replace legacy software across the entire industry and become the digital partner for service providers from surveyors to contractors.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria has also taken on a dominant force in the industry in recent years. We know that we have already had a hand in many of these strategies by connecting local service providers to local work to support micro-economies and reduce emissions, but we also know there is more we can do. Our aim is to become an ESG centre of excellence, so we are going to be working with clients globally through our PropertyLab accelerator programme to develop solutions to strengthen ESG initiatives. We want to make ESG reporting more robust through enhanced analytics and actively help improve the carbon footprint of properties.
Finally (for now), we’ll also be doubling down our efforts on expanding into new industry verticals. We have a $2.5 trillion potential market opportunity across the whole real estate sector, so we’ll be exploring the opportunities in commercial real estate as part of our mission to make property work better for everyone.
Who are our investors?
Our Series C funding round was led by new investors Highland Europe and Brookfield Technology Partners with participation from Mubadala and RXR Digital Ventures to the team, as well as our existing investors A/O Proptech and Target Global.
New investment means that we have additional financing to grow at an even more rapid rate, but it also brings with it some incredible and experienced advisors who can support us on the way.
Highland Europe is known for backing ambitious teams, disruptive products, and capital-efficient companies and we join businesses like WeTransfer, Threads and Huel in its portfolio. Brookfield Technology Partners meanwhile is the venture capital arm of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest asset managers with more than $600 billion and over 2,000 assets under management across 30 countries. Mubadala, meanwhile, is a sovereign investor with assets of $243 billion in more than 50 countries while RXR Digital Ventures is part of RXR Realty, one of the top landlords in New York City with a more than £20bn portfolio Gross Asset Value (GAV).
We’re delighted to have our new investors on board, as well as continuing to work with our existing partners, and look forward to working with all of them in the coming months.
The time for thank yous.
Without our clients and service provider partners, we would not be where we are today. We’re proud of the fact that we work in partnership with each and every client and contractor to ensure our solutions deliver real value and we’re grateful for all the feedback, suggestions and support.
Another big thank you goes to the Plentific team. Working with me and Emre to achieve our vision are some of the most talented, dedicated and committed people across the world. The team is at the heart of making our success possible and, as we continue to grow, we look forward to welcoming many more talented individuals to the team.
There is still a lot more to come from Plentific and we are excited to continue the journey of reimagining how property services can be managed and delivered to, ultimately, improve lives.