Sesame Bankhall Group and Aviva announce £5 million Acre Software investment in exclusive deal to transform mortgage process for advisers

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) and Aviva have invested £5 million in a start-up mortgage, protection and general insurance platform.

Acre Software was born out of Founders Factory, an organisation that offers an incubator for start-up companies and assists with product development, market insight and capital. Aviva Ventures is an investor in Founders Factory and worked with SBG to help facilitate Aviva’s investment in Acre.

Acre’s goal is to improve the whole experience around the mortgage and insurance application process for advisers and their clients. Acre uses blockchain to bring together all the components of the mortgage advice process into one unchangeable ‘record of the transaction’.

With the volume of transactions provided by Sesame Bankhall Group, Acre aims to become one of the largest users of blockchain in the UK.

John Cowan, executive chairman of Sesame Bankhall Group, said: “After undertaking a comprehensive 12-month review of the market, we concluded that we could no longer ignore the new competitive threats circling around our profession and we had to act.

“Working with Aviva Ventures, we saw an opportunity to turn the threat posed by new disruptive technology on its head. Acre will bring the latest technology know-how, and that coupled with our distribution expertise will help advisers and their clients reap the benefits.”

Justus Brown, CEO/founder of Acre Software and former Founders Factory chief product officer, said: “Buying a house is one of the biggest financial transactions a person can make, yet the process is slow, opaque and fragmented, which is increasingly out of step with consumer expectations. We’re changing this – levelling the playing field for brokers using innovative tech, while putting an informed consumer at the centre of the mortgage process.

“We are thrilled to have SBG’s distribution muscle and industry expertise, along with Aviva and SBG’s financial support at our disposal on this journey.”

Martin Schultheiss, group managing director at Sesame Bankhall Group, added: “SBG serves over 10,000 financial advisers across the UK and facilitated £42 billion in mortgage completions last year.

“These advisers are looking to us to help build the next generation of adviser services to ensure they stay competitive. The SBG and Acre relationship helps to enable this future vision for us.”