Resale property investment platform helps raise £60m to buy ‘thousands’ of homes

The march of City cash into the private rental market has taken a step forward after IMMO, a start-up that buys properties directly off vendors on behalf of institutional investors, was yesterday given a staggering £10 million by half a dozen venture capital funds, and has so far helped attract house buying funds worth £60 million. Talis, one of the funds, says IMMO has the potential to become a global ‘mega brand’ by using technology to ‘unlock the opportunity’ for institutional investors in the resales market. To date, City cash has steered clear of the market served by estate agents because of the difficulties of acquiring properties quickly and cheaply. IMMO, which operates in the UK and Germany, is to buy thousands of houses direct from private vendors and then refurbish them for upmarket tenants in areas that are ‘safe neighbourhoods with great transport’. Buy houses The proptech company claims that its tech platform enables it to source, appraise and buy houses and apartments digitally. IMMO’s new money has come from a variety of European property and tech investors and is to be spent on accelerating growth. The company was launched two years ago by Hans-Christian Zappel (above, fourth from…