Canopy, an InsureTech company claims to be ‘re-engineering the property rental market’, has received further investment from Round Hill Capital, the real estate investment and management firm.

The Round Hill Capital investment follows Canopy’s recent £1.6 second round of funding, including £1.3 million from Direct Line Group and backing from Experian.

Launched in May 2017, Canopy sets out to make property rental systems simpler, more efficient and fairer for renters, landlords and estate agents. Through its smartphone app, Canopy provides renters with an instant digital rental profile, RentPassportTM, which replaces the need for large cash security deposits with a simple, one-off lower-cost insurance policy backed by HISCOX.

Through its partnership with Experian, Canopy users can enhance their credit history by paying their rent directly through the mobile app, in the future.

Canopy also has strategic partnerships with property companies including Hamptons International, GetLiving, Atlas Residential and Tipi (Quintain).

The Round Hill Capital funding will be used to invest in further UK expansion, including new and extended services.

Tahir Farooqui, CEO, said, “We are opening up a new market, so making sure that renters, landlords and estate agents understand the benefits which Canopy offers them is one of our main objectives. The rental property market has so many elements in which to improve, and we’re starting with trying to eliminate the antiquated requirement for a security deposit.”

Neil Young, CEO at Get Living, added, “We are always innovating to improve the rental experience for our residents and in May, we pioneered deposit-free renting. Get Living residents no longer pay a six-week security deposit and we are currently returning deposits to thousands of our existing residents. While our model means residents don’t pay Canopy’s insurance premium, we saw real value in the ‘RentPassport’ feature. RentPassport simplifies the referencing process and, in the future, will allow our residents to build their credit scores with their rental payments, as those paying a mortgage already do. Canopy are leading in this space and share our vision for making renting work better for renters. We look forward to working collaboratively with the team to see how far we can take it.”