Online mortgage platform Tembo has raised £16m in fresh funding as it looks to expand its support for first-time buyers and accelerate growth across the UK housing market.
Tembo’s new investment round was led by Gresham House Ventures, with participation from existing backers including the McPike Family Office, the largest shareholder in Starling Bank, alongside Aviva Investors, Goodwater Capital, Love Ventures, Ascension and the British Business Bank.
Founded during the Covid-19 pandemic by Richard Dana, Eddie Ross and Geoff Wright, Tembo aims to tackle falling homeownership rates in Britain by helping buyers save faster and navigate the increasingly complex mortgage landscape. UK homeownership has dropped to around 65%, down from roughly 75% at the start of the century, leaving the country trailing many European peers.
Chief executive Richard Dana said the raise marks an important milestone, but emphasised that the company’s main challenge lies ahead. “Raising investment is the easy part, now the real work begins,” he said, adding that Tembo’s goal is to help more people onto the property ladder and ultimately support one in five UK first-time buyers into their first home over the coming years.
Tembo combines savings tools, mortgage advice and digital affordability solutions designed to shorten the journey from first deposit to completion. The firm said its savings arm grew tenfold over the past year, reaching £3bn in customer savings deposits, while its mortgage business has expanded rapidly through partnerships with more than 100 organisations, including Aviva and Saga.
The company recently launched Tembo HomeSaver, a combined savings and mortgage product offering a rate of 5.24% for customers who use Tembo’s mortgage advice service to buy or remortgage their home.
Rohit Mathur, investment partner at Gresham House Ventures, said the platform is addressing one of the UK’s biggest financial challenges. “Homebuyers are expected to save more, faster, while navigating an increasingly complex mortgage landscape,” he said.
Tembo said the new funding will be used to grow its team, expand partnerships and invest in technology aimed at making homeownership more accessible in 2026 and beyond.
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
To contact Richard, please see his Invesdaq profile.
