29. Goodlord

Founders: Richard White and Tom Mundy
Founded: January 2015
Website: www.goodlord.co

Anyone who has ever rented a property will likely describe the experience as complex at best and agonising at worst.

Fortunately for tenants and landlords, proptech start-up Goodlord is working to change this perception by bringing agents, tenants and landlords together to streamline the rental process through its one multi-sided platform.

The idea for Goodlord came to co-founder Richard White while he was working for London estate agency Foxtons. Here, White witnessed first-hand how the “bad systems” which are commonplace in the industry created time-consuming, awkward struggles which plagued the rental process.

Joined by brothers Tom and Philip Mundy, the venture came together as the trio pooled their knowledge to find a solution: Tom Mundy’s background in accountancy and business was instrumental, while Philip Mundy – who has since left to work on his own start-up – provided programming expertise.

Goodlord’s refreshing approach has proved popular; since its January 2015 launch the business has scaled rapidly. It has hired 72 employees and attracted over £10m investment from high-profile firms including LocalGlobe and Global Founders Capital, as well as angel investors Damian Lane of Episode One and Steve Garnett, EMEA chairman of Salesforce.

Targeting estate agencies who “aspire to offer a better, fairer service to landlords and tenants”, Goodlord’s platform is now in use at 400 agencies across the country, including Sothebys and Life Residential.

The business’ goals for the next year are big ones; with plans to hire more talent, introduce “game-changing” new products for tenants and grow its market share.

We believe Goodlord will be making the rental process easier for everyone for a long time to come.