Openmoove Secures £700K to Modernize UK Property Transactions
Buying or selling a home in the UK has long been a paperwork nightmare, but a Cardiff-based startup is betting £700,000 that it can fix that. Openmoove, a property technology company founded in 2024, has closed a seed funding round of £700,000 to scale its B2B platform aimed at making UK property transactions faster, smoother, and far less painful for everyone involved.
The round was led by the Development Bank of Wales, which put in £350,000 from its Wales Technology Fund. Early-stage venture firm HAATCH matched that with £335,000, joined by a group of Welsh angel investors. It is the second time HAATCH and the Development Bank of Wales have co-invested together, a sign of growing confidence in Wales as a hub for tech innovation.
The fresh capital will be used to grow the team, with six new jobs expected in Cardiff, and to accelerate the platform’s rollout across the UK property sector.
At its core, openmoove is tackling one of the most persistent frustrations in UK property transactions, fragmented communication between estate agents, conveyancers, and mortgage brokers. Rather than asking professionals to ditch the tools they already use, the platform plugs directly into existing systems to create a single shared view of each transaction. Less chasing, less confusion, fewer deals falling through.
The company was co-founded by CEO Ross McKenzie, who previously held senior roles at Purplebricks and Countrywide before founding Cardiff estate agency Isla-Alexander, which he sold to TAUK in 2025, and CTO Cai Gwinnutt, who brings over two decades of engineering experience from companies including Amplyfi and the Cyber Innovation Hub. That combination of deep sector knowledge and technical muscle appears to have been a key draw for investors.
“We’ve spent the last 18 months building the product, working closely with estate agents, conveyancers and mortgage brokers, and proving there is real demand for a better way to manage the property transaction process,” McKenzie said. “This investment gives us the backing to scale up, build our team in Cardiff and start rolling the platform out more widely.”
Gwinnutt echoed that, stressing that the platform was built to fit around people, not the other way around. “Our focus has been on creating technology that fits around the systems professionals already use, rather than forcing them to change behaviour or adopt a completely new way of working,” he said.
Mike Rees, investment executive at the Development Bank of Wales, pointed to the founders’ early commercial traction as a decisive factor in securing the investment, noting they had already attracted interest from major estate agency groups and conveyancers before closing the round.
With the funding in place and commercial momentum building, openmoove is positioning itself as a serious contender to reshape how UK property transactions happen, from the inside out.
