An artificial intelligence (AI) company which has launched a new platform to help social landlords manage rent arrears has raised a further £1.55m from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), and Mercia’s EIS funds.

Pivigo’s platform – that is already used by Peabody, London Borough of Camden, Community Housing and Cobalt – uses machine learning to help maximise rent collection, identify tenants most in need of support and transform productivity.

The latest funding follows an initial £1.25m investment from Mercia and NPIF in 2021, which helped the Sheffield-based company to develop the platform. Since then it has more than doubled the size of its team to over 20. The latest round will enable Pivigo to create new jobs, boost its sales and marketing, and roll out the product to more social landlords.

Founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Jason Muller, Pivigo started out as a consultancy delivering bespoke solutions for clients including AstraZeneca, Royal Mail, Compare The Market and the Food Standards Agency. It went on to develop an ‘AI as a service’ platform that could be adapted to create different products for different sectors. Its social housing product Occupi is the first of these.

The roll-out is being led by its CEO Alexandra Willard, who was previously CEO of connected car company Tantalum and was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UK chip maker Imagination Technologies.

Alex Willard, who is the company’s CEO, said: 

“Managers can only make decisions on the basis of the data insights available, however most organisations lack data insights so make poor decisions. Machine learning radically improves the odds – helping to improve outcomes and profitability. Our product enables organisations to feel the benefits without the need for their own data science team.

“We are pleased to be working with Mercia to roll it out to social landlords, especially at the current time when the cost of living crisis is putting their tenants’ finances under greater pressure.”

Will Clark of Mercia added: 

“Social landlords have to strike a difficult balance – maintaining the flow of rental income and preventing a build-up of arrears while supporting those most in need. Pivigo’s platform helps them manage their operations more intelligently and redefine their approach to arrears management. We believe there is a huge potential market, not just in the UK but in other countries with a big social housing sector. The funding will help Pivigo to tap into that.”

Sean Hutchinson at British Business Bank, said: 

“Companies that deliver social outcomes as well as providing innovative solutions to a market are what truly cement the beneficial relationships between communities and corporations. Pivigo have come a long way since its first round of funding, and this second round will surely accelerate its growth even further. This is a stalwart Sheffield business that is playing its part in building a stronger North.”

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank. 

ENDS

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About Mercia Asset Management PLC

Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional SMEs to achieve their growth aspirations. Mercia provides capital across its four asset classes of balance sheet, venture, private equity and debt capital: the Group’s ‘Complete Connected Capital’. The Group initially nurtures businesses via its third-party funds under management, then over time Mercia can provide further funding to the most promising companies, by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from its own balance sheet.

The Group has a strong UK footprint through its regional offices, 19 university partnerships and extensive personal networks, providing it with access to high-quality deal flow. Mercia currently has c. £1.4 billion of assets under management and, since its IPO in December 2014, has invested c.£111million gross into its direct investment portfolio.

The Group raises its own Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds and manages Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) details about open offers can be found through Mercia’s website.

Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC” and includes the following wholly owned subsidiaries –

• Mercia Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 524856
• Enterprise Ventures Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 183363
• EV Business Loans Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 443560

www.mercia.co.uk

About The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund will invest in Microfinance, Business Loans and Equity Finance sub-funds which will offer financing ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.
• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.
• The NPIF covers the following LEP areas: Tees Valley Combined Authority, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Liverpool City Region, Lancashire, Hull and East Yorkshire, Leeds City Region, Sheffield City Region, and York & North Yorkshire
• The project is receiving up to £140,359,192 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
• The funds in which Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and Tees Valley.
• The British Business Bank has published the Business Finance Guide (in partnership with the ICAEW, and a further 21 business and finance organisations). The guide, which impartially sets out the range finance options available to businesses and provides links to support available at a regional level, is available at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb