The House Crowd

Idea

Introduction

The House Crowd began life in 2012 as what we believe to be the world’s first equity-based property crowdfunding platform and has been one of the pioneers in this fast-growing industry. We started crowdfunding B2L property in 2012 and have evolved into an FCA regulated peer to peer lending (P2P) platform funding multi-million-pound property developments.

We have 27,560 registered members and have raised over £112M.

We offer a range of bridging and development loans giving investors the ability to choose the term, security, level of diversity and exit that suits their criteria. They can also invest tax-free via an IF ISA or SIPP. Typical rates we offer are 7-10%.

All loans are fully secured against the borrowers’ property.

With a dynamic team, we've already achieved stellar growth and, just as we recognised a brand new opportunity in 2012, we have identified what we believe are several other huge opportunities for growth.

We're raising funds to capitalise on these opportunities and drive value for investors.

Intended impact

Our mission is to make property, as an asset class, accessible to anyone who wants to build a better financial future for themselves. We've experienced great success in our first 7 years.

Currently, 63% of our investors are 45+. As baby boomers age, we expect to see a huge increase in investable assets. A portion of these people are property millionaires who will downsize and we expect will seek secure income-producing investments for their retirement. We aim to build on our existing success with this market.

Just as important for our growth are Millennials. With our exciting new brand Money Mog, we will seek to capitalise on what we see as a virtually untapped market of young professionals.

We've made a strong start, but, with the global P2P lending market set to multiply to $898bn by 2024, we've barely scratched the surface of what we believe can achieve. It's our goal to be recognised as the best provider of secured P2P property lending in the UK both through our direct to consumer brand and third-party partnerships.

Substantial accomplishments to date

We set out to build a unique, instantly recognisable brand; the antithesis of the financial institutions we're disrupting. We consider the strategy to have worked exceptionally well, attracting over 27,000 registered members

Key Stats:

Total amount raised: £112M

Total loans made: 211

Total properties funded: 400+

Total returns paid: £5,797,143.72

Total capital repaid: £45,589,484.80

Total investments paid back: 38,930

Loan book losses: Zero

Milestones

· 2013: £1m fundraising threshold

· 2014: £5M fundraising threshold

· 2015: first £1m fundraising month

· 2016: first £1m fundraising week

· 2016: £20M fundraising threshold

· 2017: £50M fundraising threshold

· 2018: first £1M fundraising day

· 2019: £100M fundraising threshold

Recognition

We're proud of our achievements to date and are equally as proud of the multiple prestigious awards we have won, including: AJ Bell Shares Magazine: Peer to Peer Lending Platform 2018 (beating off Zopa and Funding Circle who were also shortlisted), Property Wire’s Crowdfunding Platform of The Year 2017

245 reviews on Trust Pilot with a ‘Great’ Rating

Featured in trade and national press including: The Times, The Sunday Times, BBC2, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Express, City AM, The Investor’s Chronicle, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, ThisIsMoney.co.uk, The Metro, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Express, The Evening Standard and many more

Monetisation strategy

Development loans:

There are 3 revenue streams.

1. THC charges the developer a fee on monies raised.

2. THC makes a margin between the blended cost of capital and interest paid by the developer.

3. THC also receives a 10% success fee-based on the profits on 'House Crowd Developments' projects. As far as we are aware, we're the only P2P platform that benefits from this lucrative additional income stream.

Bridging Loans:

We charge borrowers an arrangement fee of 2% and make a margin on top of the rate paid out to investors c 4-5%.

Use of proceeds

The money raised as part of this campaign will fund a mixture of technological improvements, a new millennial brand and mobile app (Money Mog) and to effectively target three new markets. We will accept overfunding above our target as it will enable us to speed up our tech road map, market more aggressively and capture a greater share of our intended markets… and potentially reduce the amount we will require in any subsequent fundraise.

Summary of expenditure:

· Research and development to create proprietary technology, improve business intelligence, improve customer experience and improve conversion rates, improve CRM, integrate ASMX blockchain-based secondary market and further automate business processes: (30%)

· Creation of Money Mog mobile app (20%)

· Money Mog PR/marketing: (20%)

· Sales and marketing activity to promote our IF ISA (20%)

· Marketing to attract SIPP investment/ transfers (10%)