Property investment platform Bricklane announces Series A completion & appointment of Oren Peleg as Chairman

• Bricklane secures £4.7m Series A funding from leading venture capital firms
• Fundraise follows appointment of new Chairman, Oren Peleg, ex-Chairman of Countrywide and ex-CEO of Fitness First

London, 1st October 2019 

Bricklane, the property investment platform, has announced its successful £4.7m Series-A fundraise from leading UK and US investors.

The raise coincides with major investment in Bricklane’s proprietary technology platform, Compass, and comes as the business extends its real estate investment solutions for institutional investors and wealth managers. Historically, residential investment has been dominated by a fragmented base of individual buy-to-let investors, due to the difficulty and inefficiency of acquiring multiple individual assets. Bricklane’s Compass platform makes it possible to aggregate significant portfolios at scale, enabling both large scale institutional and individual investors to easily access returns from the UK’s £7 trillion housing market. 

The latest round was led by some of Europe’s leading proptech venture firms, A/O Proptech and DMG Ventures, and included investment from LocalGlobe, Form Ventures and leading US fintech investor Clocktower Technology Ventures.  

The announcement coincides with the appointment of Oren Peleg as Bricklane’s Chairman. Oren was previously Managing Director at Oaktree Capital Management, the global alternative investments specialist. While at Oaktree he chaired UK property group Countrywide ahead of its IPO, and led platform investments in real estate, lending and wealth management. Oren also spent five years as the Chairman and then global CEO of Fitness First, leading the successful turnaround of the fitness group.

Since launch in 2016, Bricklane has enabled retail investors to invest flexibly in UK residential property, held in geographically focused funds via ISAs or SIPPs. Investing through the platform offers a hassle free, tax-efficient alternative to buy-to-let, with returns from both rental income and capital growth. 

Simon Heawood, CEO and Co-founder of Bricklane, said:

“The announcement of the recent close of our Series A fundraise comes at an already exciting time for the business, as we invest in technology, people and extend our proposition further. Through the raise we’re delighted to have added new world-class investors with expertise in real estate and capital markets, as well as continuing to be supported by our existing backers.”

“It is fantastic to be adding someone of Oren’s calibre to Bricklane’s senior team at this stage of our growth. His wealth of experience as an operator and investor within private equity and real estate will be a tremendous asset to the business going forward.”

Oren Peleg, Chairman of Bricklane, added:

“Having been responsible for significant institutional capital in my previous career, including a number of asset consolidation platforms – Bricklane has an enormous opportunity ahead.

With legislation changes making it less attractive for individuals to be buy-to-let landlords, alongside growing demand for high quality rental stock from tenants, it’s a great time to be using technology to allow rapid and scaled accumulation of this asset class by professional investors and institutions. 

I’m really excited to be joining Bricklane at this inflection point in the business’ and sector’s trajectory.” 

 -ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

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About Bricklane

Bricklane enables investors to efficiently and flexibly access the UK’s largest asset class – residential property. 

Residential property investment is currently dominated by individual buy-to-let landlords facing increasing headwinds from taxation and regulation, with relatively little participation from permanent capital.

Since 2016, Bricklane has enabled thousands of customers to invest in diversified, geographically focused residential property portfolios, tax-efficiently in their ISAs and pensions.

Compass, Bricklane’s proprietary tech platform, enables the intelligent, cost-effective assembly of diversified portfolios of residential property, and powers forthcoming investment solutions for institutions and wealth managers. Tenants in Bricklane properties receive a professional service, with 3 year tenancies as standard, and responsive property managers.

The business is backed by a range of leading investors including LocalGlobe, A/O Proptech, DMG Ventures, and Zoopla, and is chaired by Oren Peleg (formerly MD of Oaktree Capital Europe and Chairman of Countrywide).