Multi-million pound investment values robo-adviser MortgageGym at £12m

Mortgage robo-adviser MortgageGym has completed a £3.8m funding round and secured approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.

The seven-figure investment included backing from LSL Property Services plc, parent firm of the UK’s second largest mortgage network, and fintech GoCompare Group plc, which increased its shareholding in the deal.

MortgageGym is now valued at £12m, despite only launching its offering in full earlier this year.

The company, based in Camberley, Surrey, will use the investment to develop its mortgage robo-advice and artificial intelligence services.

It offers a free 60-second mortgage-matcher and mortgage advice, all enhanced through its integration with Experian credit files and live scorecards from mortgage lenders.

The funding announced today (September 17) follows a £2.5m seed round completed in 2017, and nearly 12 months of integration with comparison platform GoCompare.

MortgageGym will also look to grow through a new partnership, struck alongside the funding round, with LSL mortgage broker networks. At the end of 2017, the group had close to 2,300 mortgage advisers and arranged £21bn in lending over the year.

John Ingram, the company’s co-founder, said: “Our funding round, strategic partnerships and continuing unique proposition put us in a strong position to truly revolutionise the UK mortgage market.

“Other digital mortgage platforms are constrained by their aim to organically grow their customer-base and build broker support at the same time, while our compelling fusion of ‘bricks and clicks’ will allow us to rapidly alleviate homebuyers of the uncertainty and stress of mortgage applications on a national scale.”

He continued: “We have carefully chosen investors that not only bring funds, but invaluable, symbiotic business models and expertise.

“As a result, we do not need to invest in costly customer acquisition or building a broker-base. This places us in a much stronger position than our peers as it allows us to invest the new capital in improving our technology.”

MortgageGym has promoted chief commercial officer Jeremy Moll to the role of managing director. He was part of the senior team that created CompareTheMarket.com and, more recently, BeagleStreet.com.