No more late rent: Livingbridge invests in social housing software business Mobysoft

Predictive software business Mobysoft, which aims to help social housing landlords predict which tenants will be late to pay rent, has nabbed investment from private equity firm Livingbridge.

The firm has invested from its £220m Enterprise 2 fund, which generally writes cheques of £5m to £15m for high-growth smaller companies in the UK.

Mobysoft’s RentSense service collects data and uses algorithms to predict which tenants in a social housing development will be late to pay rent, then prioritises this list and reminds the landlord to prompt them before they fall into arrears.

Read more: Residential Secure Income, an investment trust focusing on social housing, plots £300m float on the London Stock Exchange

“Mobysoft already has a strong market position and great growth potential, in a sector Livingbridge knows well,” said Livingbridge’s Nick Holder.

“With the compelling combination of sector-leading software, an entrepreneurial management team and the capital to pursue its growth ambitions, this is an incredibly exciting opportunity.”

Of the UK’s 1,650 social housing providers, the largest 100 faced more than £700m of gross arrears in 2016.

Rent reductions and welfare reform, including the introduction of the Universal Credit benefits system, are adding to cost pressures and driving the need for greater efficiency.

According to Mobysoft, it costs landlords 500 per cent more to manage Universal Credit cases than under legacy systems such as housing benefit. It adds that 89 per cent of tenants on Universal Credit are in arrears.

Read more: DEBATE: Should Theresa May halt the roll-out of universal credit?

Mobysoft believes that by freeing up officers with its automated systems, landlords will be able to focus their resources on how to address these challenges.

The company’s software is already used by 91 social housing operators managing around one million properties. The Livingbridge investment will help it to build its team and extend the use of predictive analytics into other areas of social housing, while gaining market share.

Read more: Impact investor Bridges sweeps up facilities management business Just Ask for £9m