Augmentum Fintech plc (LSE: AUGM) (“Augmentum” or the “Company”), one of Europe’s leading fintech venture capital investors, announces an investment of £2.5 million in UK-based residential rent-to-own specialist Unmortgage, as part of a £10 million fundraising.

Augmentum is participating in this fund raising alongside existing investor Exponential Ventures, and other investors.

Unmortgage (www.unmortgage.com) will offer a unique part-own part-rent model of home ownership, requiring as little as 5% deposit with customers paying a market rent on the portion of the home that Unmortgage owns, with the ability to increase the equity in the property as their financial circumstances allow.

The new funds are being raised by Unmortgage to scale the business and take the team from 12 to 40 people before the end of the 2018, prior to launch in 2019.

Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, said: “One of the things we look for in a potential investment is a business that is genuinely pathfinding in a sector which is ripe for innovation. In too many cases home-ownership remains out of reach for people, and the Unmortgage model addresses in an innovative way how people can access the homes they both need and want. The business is also attracting fintech talent who want to participate in a business that has at its heart a social purpose”