Smart strategic investment underpins new growth
A consortium of investors including Preqin founder Mark O’Hare have acquired a 41% stake in the specialist land acquisition platform, Verafind, which has rebranded from VirginLand by Ringley.
Other investors joining O’Hare include Will Killick and Andrew Pettit, Founding Partners of the £4.5bn (AUM) private equity real estate investment manager Revcap Advisors, and Darryl Flay, co-founder of the Macquarie-backed rental housing investment manager Goodstone Living and a founding figure in UK build-to-rent as an asset class.
Property and asset management company Ringley Group, which co-founded Verafind in 2022 – then VirginLand by Ringley – and helped grow the business, has sold its majority stake to pave the way for investment. It will continue to play an active role to support future growth.
Co-founded by Dan Robinson (Managing Director), Verafind, which includes the likes of Taylor Wimpey, Eon and Wates in its client base, is a technology-led business acting as an outsourced land department for developers, investors and asset owners across all residential and commercial sub-sectors. It also works in infrastructure, with clients in EV, roadside, energy and industrial development.
Verafind – whose team of 15 is headquartered in London and comprises, (See main picture L-R) Freddy Hoare (Operations Director) Dan Robinson (Co-Founder & MD) and Charlie Youngs (Co-Founder & Agency Director). It leverages AI, proprietary data and in-house geospatial technology to automate and simplify the process of identifying and acquiring development sites. Its AI-enabled platform identifies sector requirements, lease structures and site potential before engaging and qualifying potential vendors. It recommends acquisition strategies to developers and investors, while delivering viability assessments, planning reports and valuation models.
The consortium’s investment will support Verafind’s next phase of growth, which includes the enhancement of AI capabilities, improved data infrastructure and an expansion into Europe.
Mark O’Hare said: “Land acquisition and planning have always been bottlenecks in the property industry; causing delays and costs for landowners and developers alike – not to mention for our country, which urgently needs more houses. Verafind changes all of that, by streamlining and professionalising the entire process for the benefit of all. I’m excited to be involved with a growing young business that is transforming the property industry – and also from my own experience at Preqin I know how powerful the right data and data-enabled services are in streamlining commerce; and what fantastic businesses they can evolve to be.”
Dan Robinson, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Verafind, said: “This is an exciting strategic milestone for the business that demonstrates proof of concept, where we are leveraging sophisticated technological solutions to unlock a deeply opaque land market. Our new investors recognise that as the AI landscape evolves, there is early mover advantage to be had by backing emerging companies applying it to a part of the real estate market that has always suffered from a lack of innovation.
“The new investment will help us achieve scale at an accelerated pace, enabling us to enhance our existing capabilities in AI, data and modelling, while providing the freedom to build out new products and expand into new geographies.”
Mary-Anne Bowring, Co-Founder of VirginLand by Ringley and Managing Director of Ringley Group, said: “We’ve been on an exciting journey with the Verafind team, incubating the business from a standing start to the successful platform it is today. We’re proud of our achievements to date and the new investment represents the start of a new chapter, and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship with Dan, Charlie and the team.”
Mehdi Mehra, Group Chairman of Ringley Group, said: “We are proud to have created a lasting land search platform, we welcome the new investors and the broad range of additional expertise they bring, this will undoubtedly accelerate Verafind’s capability to emerge as class leader in data driven site acquisition and look forward to continuing on the Board and working alongside the investor consortium.”
Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR
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Andrew Stanton Founder & Editor of 'PROPTECH-X' where his insights, connections, analysis and commentary on proptech and real estate are based on writing 1.3M words annually. Plus meeting 1,000 Proptech founders, critiquing 400 decks and having had 130 clients as CEO of 'PROPTECH-PR', a consultancy for Proptech founders seeking growth and exit strategies. He also acts as an advisory for major global real estate companies on sales, acquisitions, market positioning & operations. With 200K followers & readers, he is the 'Proptech Realestate Influencer.'
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