Digital franchise network secures £300,000 in funding round
The UK Adviser, a Manchester-based digital franchise network providing a one-stop fintech platform for mortgage and finance advisers, has secured £300,000, including a co-investment from GC Angels, the North West’s most active early-stage investor.
Founded in 2018, The UK Adviser’s ‘business in a box’ style framework allows individuals to set up and run their own mortgage franchise business. It offers a simple way for graduates, people looking for a career change, or those who want to become their own boss, including those that have been adversely affected by the pandemic, to establish themselves as a fully FCA-approved mortgage adviser or grow their existing business.
Alongside this support, The UK Adviser also gives users access to its fintech platform, AdviserTech, a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. The platform, which streamlines time-consuming tasks such as compliance, allows its advisers to focus on building face-to-face relationships with their clients, growing their portfolio and completing mortgages.
Founded by Maxim Cohen, an award-winning Mortgage Adviser, the network is also committed to educating advisers on complex issues, homing in on building an infrastructure of learning, growth and technology. Through bespoke training and professional development, The UK Adviser, named as one of “20 companies to watch in 2020” gives people the opportunity to grow in niche sectors while maintaining credibility.
The significant funding provided by GC Angels and the network of industry expert private investors will support The UK Adviser with continued development of the AdviserTech platform, allowing it to grow its offering in tandem with the increasing popularity of the self-employment and SME sector, which brings with it increasingly diverse demands for advisers. With less time dominated by paperwork and admin, advisers will have capacity to develop their skills, enabling them to advise on more specialist products.
Maxim Cohen, founder and CEO of The UK Adviser, said: “Too much time in mortgage advising is taken up by bureaucratic procedures – we wanted to build a digital platform that would remove this burden from advisers, allowing them to focus on all-important client relationships. However, we needed to build something that was flexible enough to fit the incredibly varied mortgage advisory process.
“From being introduced to the Growth Company through Access to Finance to securing investment through GC Angels, the level of support has been outstanding. Damian worked incredibly hard to help us develop our pitch and later to gather the appropriate investors for this funding round. We’ve already been able to continue developing our AdviserTech platform and have now created three new roles in Greater Manchester including a mortgage adviser trainer, a franchise relationship manager and a case manager to our talented team. Thanks to this funding, we are well on our way to reaching our goal of 180 advisers in our network in the next five years.”
Damian Mohammed, investment director at GC Angels, said: “Maxim and the team at The UK Adviser have a really strong vision for the future of tech-enabled mortgage advising, making them the exact type of disruptive, innovation-driven business that we look to support. Their tech platform stands out as making a real change to the way the industry operates, and we can’t wait to see how they continue to grow and develop over the coming years.”
Jerry Scriven, managing partner at Leonherman and corporate finance adviser to The UK Adviser, said: “Maxim and Andrea’s team at The UK Adviser bring with them an enormous wealth of knowledge and expertise, and their fintech platform is making real waves in the mortgage world. The AdviserTech platform is massively scalable, with potential to benefit numerous professions from property agents to solicitors and surveyors, and in a quickly changing world where financial circumstances are less predictable, the way it balances cutting-edge technology with a personal service means the market opportunity is enormous. It’s also brilliant that Maxim has chosen to do this in the North West, bolstering Manchester’s position as a financial hub in the UK.”
