Fintech leader and angel investor Ying Tan leads round into innovative AI start-up
Bristol-based start-up Propflo has announced that it has successfully closed its pre-seed funding round of £180k from strategic investors to grow its property transparency platform.
The platform, which includes an ‘Experian-like’ proprietary property score that homeowners can add context to, as well as sustainability insights and support to prepare sellers and buyers, has generated significant interest amongst property professionals, especially mortgage intermediaries. The main objective of this funding round was to engage strategic investors with relevant experience to accelerate growth.
The round was led by Ying Tan, a successful founder and angel investor. After becoming one of the youngest VPs at Goldman Sachs, Ying created a substantial property portfolio before founding Dynamo in February 2006; he exited in May 2021 having grown the company to become one of the leading and largest mortgage brokers in the UK. Since his exit, he has become the non-executive chairman of Knowledge Bank, a multi-award-winning mortgage criteria search system.
Ying will join the board as a non-executive director to help grow and provide strategic direction, he will also be joined by his trusted colleague Penny Desborough who has been instrumental in many of his previous success stories. Active angel investor Robin Balen who has invested in successful proptech start-ups previously is also part of the round.
Ying commented, “Propflo is a super exciting opportunity for me. When I exited my business I wanted to back and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs. Luke already has an excellent proven track record, and has all the amazing attributes that I look for in founders.
Propflo is a revolutionary product which has ambitious plans to disrupt the marketplace, to create a better property buying experience. This makes it incredibly exciting for me and compliments my other recent investments. I am delighted to be part of its next chapter of growth and the exciting journey that lies ahead.”
“I really admire what Ying has accomplished in the mortgage intermediary sector, and his knowledge of both the mortgage and property markets will be a huge asset to Propflo. When discussing the opportunity with him I felt that our values aligned and we could work very well together to build a great business. I’m also delighted that Robin has also participated in the round; his advice in previous proptech ventures proved invaluable.” said Luke Loveridge, Founder and CEO of Propflo.
“We’ve recently expanded our advisory board with Dr Mike Tipping who is a world leader in AI, he joined Verona Frankish formerly part of the leadership team at Mortgage Advice Bureau and current CEO at online estate agents Yopa. Adding the market-specific and commercial experience of Ying and Robin to the business creates an even stronger best in class well-balanced team.” said Daniel Moyo, Co-founder and Chief Data Scientist.