A digital savings and mortgage platform which counts Starling Bank’s biggest shareholder among its backers has secured more than £15m in funding to help more aspiring homeowners get onto the property ladder.
Sky News understands that Tembo, which was founded just over five years ago, will announce on Thursday that it has secured the money in a round led by new investor Gresham House Ventures.
The McPike Family Office, which is the largest investor in Starling Bank, one of Britain’s most prominent neobanks, also participated in the round.
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Other investors in Tembo include Aviva Investors, Goodwater Capital, Love Ventures, Ascension and the British Business Bank.
Tembo was founded by Richard Dana, Eddie Ross and Geoff Wright during the Covid pandemic with the objective of increasing access to home ownership for first-time buyers and people facing affordability issues.
The company said its savings arm had grown tenfold last year, reaching £3bn in assets under administration.
It counts more than 100 organisations, including Aviva and Saga, as partners, embedding mortgage guidance and affordability-boosting ideas into their digital user experiences.
The company recently launched HomeSaver, a combined savings and mortgage product offering customers a top rate of 5.24% on their savings when they use its digital mortgage advice service to buy or remortgage their home.
Tembo, which did not disclose its valuation in its latest funding round, claims to be on track to have a 20% market share of the UK first-time buyer market within two years.
“This investment is a major milestone for Tembo as we continue building a platform that doesn’t just help people find and secure a mortgage, but puts them genuinely in control of their journey to homeownership, from the first pound they save to the day they get the keys,” said Richard Dana, Tembo co-founder and chief executive.
Rohit Mathur, an investment partner at Gresham House, said: “Home ownership in the UK has become one of the hardest financial milestones to reach, despite a £1.6 trillion mortgage market.
“Home buyers, especially first-time buyers, are expected to save more, faster, while navigating an increasingly complex mortgage landscape.”