Keyzy, a rent-to-own service aimed at aspiring homeowners, has raised £3m in a seed funding round. 

The proceeds will accelerate its purchases of homes and the development of its technology platform, enabling more of its target group of key workers and young professionals to join the property ladder for the first time. 

Axeleo Capital and Outward VC co-led the funding round. Seed X also participated in the capital raise alongside existing investors Global Founders Capital and ActivumSG Ventures. 

Simon Groll, Keyzy’s co-founder, says: “This funding round allows us to accelerate home purchases and meet the surging demand from 1,000 applicants and more than 3,000 who signed up to our pre-launch waitlist. It’s an exciting moment in our drive to grow the platform, especially with turmoil in the mortgage market and the Help to Buy scheme coming to an end.”  

The platform says property prices have risen three times faster than incomes during the last nine years, making it harder to save the 10 to 20 per cent deposit mortgage lenders typically require to finance a home purchase. The average age of first-time buyers has risen as a result. 

Keyzy was founded in late 2021 to unlock homeownership for those with insufficient savings to access mortgage finance, by offering a finance model which claims to shelter customers from rent and property price inflation. 

Keyzy gives successful applicants a budget to find a home that suits their needs. It acquires the home chosen by the customer and leases it to them at a fixed rent for three to seven years. 

Keyzy customers are able to establish a credit history to facilitate a future mortgage application while up to 25 per cent of their rent is converted to lower the locked in buy-back price of the property. Customers have the right to buy the home at the original total cost minus the converted rent that has accumulated.  

To date it has acquired homes in Greater London, Liverpool, Southeast and Southwest England. 

The majority of its rent-paying customers are employed in key services, such as education, emergency services and in the National Health Service.