Kamma raises £1.6m funding round to democratise local legislation

• Regtech platform identifies £2.3bn opportunity for more effective compliance within the private rental sector  –

• Pioneering proptech VC Pi Labs participates in institutional raise-

30 November 2020, London: Kamma, the leading RegTech data platform (PRS), has raised an additional £1.6m in funding from leading European investors. 

The company, launched in 2018, has raised a total of £2.2m since inception. This round, led by Triple Point, included investment from Europe’s most active proptech VC company Pi Labs, and M7 Structura.

Kamma’s fundraise will be used to advance the build of its global search engine for local legislation, whilst supporting their current mandate to tackle property law in the UK.  Local regulation is a minefield of messy, disparate and changing information. Doing business at scale, nationally or internationally, is seriously encumbered by the inaccessibility of local law.

 Kamma has built unique proprietary technology that detects, cleanses and aggregates huge volumes of divergent and ever-changing regulatory information. The result is a collection of unique, systematic and valuable data sets, capable of providing regulatory requirements and insights for any property in the UK in seconds.

Orla Shields, CEO and Co-Founder of Kamma, said:

“Our vision is for a world unencumbered by disparate information and our property licensing product is a clear example of how we help businesses stay compliant, save time, save money while raising housing standards at the same time. Through our product we can assess all licensing needs, drawing information from multiple sources and presenting it as usable data on one platform. Our guiding principle is to make renting safer for everyone and with more people working from home, and a correlation between housing overcrowding and the faster spread of COVID-19, property compliance is of huge importance.

Esha Vatsa, Principal at Pi Labs, commented:

“Kamma is a clear example of how technology can provide real solutions for issues in the real estate industry. Through its innovative platform Kamma has digitised a complex and time-consuming task for agents, lenders, investors, mortgage brokers and local authorities. Our investment will help Kamma further strengthen their position in the market and shine a light on the importance of property compliance,as we look to a more agile work style in the future. We are proud to be supporting Kamma on their journey.”

Kamma is already solving the complex property licensing problem in the UK.  On average, a new piece of property licensing legislation comes into being every eight days. The constantly shifting landscape in property licensing regulations has an impact on multiple stakeholders in the PRS, from landlords and agents through to insurance companies and mortgage lenders, that need visibility on the compliance status of a property before writing a tenancy agreement policy or mortgage. 

Kamma projects a 39% increase in ‘discretionary’ licensing schemes in 2021, which, nationally, would qualify over a million rental properties for a licence. With licensing enforcement known to generate additional tax revenue at a ratio of 1:5 this equates to a £2.3 billion opportunity; almost £400 million in licence fees converting to £1.9 billion for the tax collector.

Property compliance laws exist to ensure that tenants are living in safe accommodation and, with more people working from home than ever before, it’s important to ensure properties are compliant with all necessary legislation. Kamma is able to deploy its data engine to improve transparency wherever legislation becomes too complex to be effective, creating opportunities to support businesses beyond the real estate industry.

Kamma technology is used by more than 4,000 customers, protecting a portfolio value of over £33bn in the real estate sector ranging from agents, landlords, mortgage and lenders.

Ends

About Pi Labs

Founded in 2014, Pi Labs was the first venture capital firm in Europe to exclusively invest in proptech

companies. The company positions itself as a bridge between traditional real estate companies and Proptech start-ups across Europe.

Pi Labs is often the first institutional investor and invests in companies from pre-Seed to Series A, with follow on investments in later stage rounds. 

Start-ups can benefit from Pi Labs’ vast network of mentors and advisors, including key players in the real

estate industry, investors and successful entrepreneurs. Receiving investment from Pi Labs means becoming part of the community of exceptional entrepreneurs in its portfolio.

Pi Labs has successfully executed two funds, Fund I (2015) and Fund II (2017). Pi Labs has built a portfolio of over 50 proptech companies across UK and Europe, making the company the most active investor in proptech start-ups in Europe.

About Kamma

Kamma puts companies back in control of their compliance through data-driven technology solutions. They mine unstructured legislative information and harness AI to de-risk markets, deliver operational efficiencies, protect reputations and open up new revenue opportunities.

Kamma is an alumni of the government backed Geovation programme. Kamma was selected for its innovative use of both property data and geospatial mapping. Geovation is an Ordnance Survey Initiative in association with HM Land Registry, which is dedicated to supporting open innovation and collaboration using location and property data.

Visit us at www.kammadata.com