London fintech firm Hammock raises $5.5 million to help landlords go digital

UK FinTech firm Hammock has announced a $5.5 million funding round with a commitment to help landlords and their accountants in the face of sweeping digital reforms.

The round was led by Fuel Ventures, together with Second Century Ventures and Ascension Ventures.

New Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) plans put the UK’s two million landlords and their accounting partners under increased pressure, requiring quarterly filing of tax returns and the need to keep digital records.

Manoj Varsani MBE, founder and CEO of Hammock, said: “This is a time of great opportunity for both landlords and their accountants. Government changes in the form of MTD for ITSA is a clear signal that the digital future is on its way.

“We are delighted to have closed this significant funding round, as we continue to grow and strengthen our position as the provider of choice for both parties.”

Learning from his own experiences as a landlord, Varsani founded Hammock to make property finances work harder with bespoke banking, bookkeeping and property tax statements. Landlords who move away from spreadsheets and manage their property finances with Hammock find immediate benefits in terms of savings of both time and money.

Mark Pearson, Founder and Managing Partner at Fuel Ventures, commented:, commented: “We’re very happy that we can back the Hammock team for a second time with a significant ticket. They’ve shown fantastic progress to date with accountancies and many more are in the pipeline. With the legislation changes coming to the space in the near future, we at Fuel are confident that the Hammock product will have significant impact.”

Giving landlords an intelligent dashboard and mobile app to house all of their property finances in one place, Hammock provides users with real-time access to transactions related to their rental properties, automated bookkeeping and draft property tax statements. Landlords get full visibility on the performance of their buy-to-let investments, allowing them to optimise their business decisions, and to avoid any surprises with the tax bill.

“Our users kept asking us to invite their accountants to Hammock, so they could have direct access to the information they needed to file taxes” – says Varsani – “Many top 100 accounting practices in the UK have joined Hammock since then, and more keep joining us every week.”.

“In Hammock, we see the same entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to innovation that we have,” said [INSERT NAME, JOB TITLE at Second Century Ventures. “We are delighted to partner with them at this exciting time in their growth journey and look forward to sharing in their continued success.”

Varsani was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list for services to charity. He founded SOS Supplies, a service to connect charities, the NHS and schools to the UK’s available stock of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, believing that ‘technology is an enabler for good’. This project was run by the team at Hammock together with over 20 volunteers. They all offered their time and skills for free, working in the evenings and over the weekend.

He added: “The drive and commitment of the Hammock team continues to inspire me each and every day. I passionately believe in the power of technology and we will continue to provide support for good causes as our business grows in the coming years.”