Mar 8, 2023

Getmomo bags €3.5m to help largest asset class in the world Backed by Element Ventures, Atlantic Labs, Visionaries Club, and GFC, Getmomo builds the first vertical payment platform for real estate. Launched in 2021, Getmomo already has access to more than 150 landlords and property managers with a portfolio of over 200k units. The new partnership, with the “Fintech-Peoples Bank” Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisen Bank (VVBR) for the underwriting of tenants will accelerate further growth. Berlin-based Getmomo provides professional landlords with an intuitive platform through which they can automate rent payments and safeguard themselves against tenant defaults. The largest asset class in the world, Real Estate (RE), is broken for both sides of the lease. Tenants struggle with high cash deposits in times of rising rents. In times of exploding living costs, millions of tenants are groaning under high deposits when moving and potentially high additional payments for energy and heating costs in the next 12 months. At the same time, in property management, it is common to see a high degree of manual tasks with little to no automation. Landlords run on legacy Property Management Systems (PMS) that offer, due to missing connectivity, no real-time transparency on the portfolio performance. Repetitive, manual work consumes at least 30% of the property managers’ time e.g. for payment checks, dunning, and screenings. Despite billions of euros of rent flowing through the system, only a few banks offer limited and expensive vertical solutions in real estate. To help both sides of the lease, Getmomo has announced a new partnership with Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisenbank (VVBR). Marcel Meitza, the founder commented. We are delighted to be partnering with VVRB and working alongside a partner with more fintech experience than any other bank in Germany. To relieve tenants, the platform offers an alternative to a cash deposit in cooperation with VVRB. The guarantee can be used in just a few seconds, when a tenant moves in or when converting an existing deposit. More than one-third of Germans say they cannot afford an extra payment of more than €1.000, so the expected heating cost arrears of up to €2.000 on average are a major financial risk for millions of tenants. Getmomo helps in both cases: tenants do not have to pay a cash deposit when moving in, and existing tenants can simply swap the cash deposit they have already paid, and settle their extra payment. VVRB supports the further development of Getmomo’s business by underwriting the guarantees. The bank has already built a great reputation for successful cooperation with fintech companies such as Ratepay, Billie, and Mondu. For real estate companies, eliminating repetitive processes and generating savings, as well as cash flow transparency, are of paramount importance in times of a shortage of skilled workers, rising interest rates, and falling valuations. They can open integrated accounts and automate rental payment processes and reporting in seconds, in addition to underwriting through the Getmomo platform. Thus, Getmomo offers a simple all-in-one banking solution for RE. All without high costs, complex implementation, and outdated applications such as the Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard (EBICS) or using the limited functionalities of PSDII. It is fantastic to see a product that is successfully addressing a genuine market need that is ripe for innovation Michael McFadgen, Partner at Element Ventures comments “It is fantastic to see a product that is successfully addressing a genuine market need that is ripe for innovation. The announcement of a funding round is complemented by the launch of a commercial partnership, demonstrating the team’s extensive knowledge of the vertically integrated product for professional property managers.” Bastian Bullmann, Principal at Atlantic Labs, comments “For many verticals, new players have emerged over the last decades, like stripe and Adyen. What we have not seen is a model focussed on the largest market of them all, real estate. We are excited by the team’s ability to grow in a traditional industry and its fully embedded offering towards institutional landlords. With an existing Property Management Software landscape that runs 98% of the time on-premise, we see a huge opportunity to automate payments already before they are further processed in legacy systems and offer additional financial services layers.” With almost 30 billion euros tied up in traditional cash deposits in Germany alone and more than 70 billion euros in Europe, we see huge potential in the residential market Ralf Magerkurth, CEO at VVRB, comments, “With almost 30 billion euros tied up in traditional cash deposits in Germany alone and more than 70 billion euros in Europe, we see huge potential in the residential market. Through a seamless onboarding process triggered by the landlord through the Getmomo platform, we see this traditional industry at a turning point. The digital bank guarantee has the chance to become a new standard in the market, helping both sides of the lease. Given the current price increases for heating and electricity, we predict a high demand from landlords and tenants to switch to the Getmomo guarantee solution to cover the expected additional payments. We look forward to further cooperation with Getmomo, one of the most high-profile PropTechs in the German market, in this and possible further products.” Marcel Meitza, the founder of Getmomo, comments “With this new partnership, we can continue our growth and build the leading vertical payment solution in the European real estate market. We look forward to working with VVRB and further expanding the business.”