StepLadder is a fast growing and award-winning fintech dedicated to helping people buy their first home.
Business overview
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Social media | |
| Website | joinstepladder.com/ |
| Sectors | Finance & Payments Digital Mixed B2B/B2C |
| Company number | 10052693 |
| Incorporation date | 8 Mar 2016 |
Business highlights
- 90% of Members get their deposit faster than saving alone
- Huge market - 350,000+ UK first-time buyers annually
- 40%+ quarterly growth | ~£900,000 in member funds | 75+ Circles
- Multi-award winning | 5-star reviews | Backed by BBVA Anthemis
Learn more about convertible campaigns.
Idea
Introduction
StepLadder is a game changing and award winning fintech company committed to solving a huge societal and generational problem - buying your first home.
We are tackling the housing crisis head-on with our innovative and powerful “StepLadder Circles” to help first-time buyers raise their property deposits and supporting them through a process which is usually lonely, stressful and opaque.
How it works...
StepLadder Circles are based on a Rotating Savings and Credit Association model (ROSCA), which Co-Founder Matt studied in Brazil for his graduate thesis in 2006. Informally used by many communities around the world, the ROSCA harnesses the power of community to help people reach their savings goals faster and keeps them disciplined to stay on track.
The opportunity to change lives goes way beyond home buying in the UK as the Circles can be used for other expenses e.g. cars, electronics, healthcare. StepLadder’s digital ROSCA can meaningfully disrupt personal finance.
Substantial accomplishments to date
2017 - 2018
• FCA registered as a P2P platform (appointed representative status)
• Launched initial Circles in beta
• Seedcamp leads Pre-Seed round with existing friends & family investors
• First property deposits awarded and first Member bought home
2019
• UK national launch & growth begins following successful beta
• Anthemis BBVA lead £1.5 million Seed round
2020
• Proprietary platform 2.0 live, with integrated underwriting
• An average of 365 applications per month
2021
• 25x membership since 2019 - 40%+ growth per quarter
• An arrears rate of less than 0.20% across 75+ Circles
• Total defaults have been less than £1,000 over two years of growth
• Over £750,000 awarded to Members
Overall
• Hundreds of Members being supported on the journey to home ownership.
• We are making home ownership more inclusive.
c. £900,000 Member subscriptions on the platform
Consistent 5-star Trustpilot rating
Featured in 10+ national newspapers and magazines
Multiple awards for social impact and innovation
Monetisation strategy
We generate revenue in the following ways:
• Membership Fees: we charge a recurring fee to cover the cost of service
• Mortgage Origination: our mortgage advisor partners pay us a fee for each Member who uses them
• Referral Fees: we introduce our Members to solicitors, surveyors and other service providers who pay us a referral fee
• Licensing Fees: as we develop global partnerships in this next phase of our growth, we aim to generate revenue from partners who want to white label our platform
Use of proceeds
Funds raised from this campaign will support growth in the UK and beyond and help us scale from helping 100s to 1000s of Members.
• 40% of this raise for UK growth through our referral and ambassador programs and exploring new marketing channels
• 30% of this raise for international expansion through licensing partnerships
• 30% of this raise for staff and technology to support growth
Join committed investors...
Our Seedrs campaign invites new investors to join the Founders, leading angels and top-tier UK VC funds such as Anthemis and Seedcamp for the first time:
• With nearly £3,000,000 in funding to date, StepLadder has created a digital finance proposition with disruptive potential worldwide
• Our leading angels are seasoned professional investors and have invested in each capital raise since 2016
• The Founders have personally invested over £250,000 - including this round
Key Information
Existing Convertible
The company has the following outstanding convertible loans, which may convert to equity after this round and dilute existing shareholders:
£426,000 loan from Future Fund and Existing Investors, with the following key terms:
Interest rate: 8% Non-Compounding
Conversion trigger(s): An equity raise of at least the value of the convertible loan.
Conversion price: 20% discount on the share price of the qualifying round.
Valuation Cap: None
Share class: Most senior class of shares issued in the round.
Repayment date: December 2023
Advance Subscription Agreement (This Seedrs Round)
This investment round is being raised by way of a convertible equity investment structure, in this case an "advanced subscription agreement".
The key terms that apply to the Company’s advanced subscription agreement are set out below. See also attached Key Terms document for further details.
• Discount – conversion at a 20% discount to the valuation set by a Trigger Event.
• Valuation cap share price of £64 - indicating a pre-money valuation of £10,620,000 based on the Company's current fully diluted pre-money share capital.
• Conversion is triggered by ("Trigger Events"):
- An Equity Fundraise – defined as the Company raising investment capital of at least £500,000 from one transaction or a series of transactions, in exchange for the company issuing ordinary shares;
- A Change of Control of the company (transfer of more than 50% of the share capital); or
- An IPO – being a listing of the company’s shares on a recognised stock market or secondary market.
• Longstop Date is 30 November 2021.
If conversion has not been triggered by the Longstop Date shares will be issued on the longstop date at the Default Share Price, which is the lower of:
- the lowest price of any shares issued after the date of this Agreement; and
- a price per share based on a pre-money share price of £40 - indicating a pre-money valuation of £6,650,000, based on the Company's current fully diluted pre-money share capital.
The convertible would also convert to equity at the Default Share Price in the event of winding up or liquidation of the company.
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