40. Acre

Founder: Justus Brown

Year founded: 2018
Website: acresoftware.com

Getting a mortgage is a near Herculean feat. 80% of homeowners use a broker to secure their deed, but the process is almost exclusively hosted over email or outdated legacy platforms. This leaves sensitive client information like passport numbers saved in a vulnerable and opaque digital paper trail.

Justus Brown experienced this problem first-hand while trying to buy a home in France. It took him four months to reach a mortgage decision, and his administrative costs doubled throughout the process. Tired of navigating the multitude of systems and requirements, Brown created Acre. 

In a bid to disrupt the UK’s £1.4 trillion mortgage market, Acre offers an end-to-end solution to give mortgage brokers and prospective homeowners complete oversight of the buyer journey. 

As a tailored CRM, Acre’s smart tech ensures precision and efficiency in case management. A suite of management tools allows brokers to gain valuable insights into their clients, while secure document storage and intelligent dashboards means they have everything on-hand when communicating with the lender.

But Acre’s biggest USP is its client portal, which aims to empower clients by giving them full access to their application or contract from any device. Like a Facebook account for your mortgage, it’s a level of digital convenience that many won’t have experienced before. There’s even messaging in-app for instant communication between buyer and broker.

On top of this, Acre offers a unique verification system that ensures each case has all the right ingredients on the same platform. Legal compliance? Check. Verifiable records? Check. Instantaneous and accurate mortgage assessment? Check. 

Also driving Acre’s success is its talent behind the scenes. Users can rest assured they are getting the best insights in the markets as the platform is run by a team of former brokers who know the ins and outs of buying a new home.

The homely startup has made acres of progress in the housing market since launching in 2018. It has expanded over 400% in mortgage volume and recently celebrated providing advice for its 50,000th home purchase. 

Acre raised £6.5m in its latest seed funding round and is backed by investors like Aviva, Founders Factor, and My Global Family Office. It has also forged partnerships with Santander, Nationwide Clients, and Equifax. 

In its next step to becoming the one-click mortgage management solution, Acre plans to deepen its reach in the UK market and expand to the US and the European Union. Successfully moving into our top 100 list at number 40, hopeful home owners should keep an eye out for Acre this year.