Acquisitive UK national law firm Taylor Rose MW has invested a seven-figure sum in the property-tech company SlothMove, which helps individuals and businesses to update their registered address and notify any relevant companies and institutions of the change. Taylor Rose declined to say what percentage stake it has acquired.
Founded three years ago in Sheffield, SlothMove has grown to 3,500 active monthly users. Users can change their details across hundreds of businesses, including loyalty programmes, utility providers, council tax, and water.
The average home move involves over 21 points of contact to update their addresses – including with insurers, employers and healthcare providers – with some wait times as long as an hour. SlothMove, which was co-founded by former Amazon area manager Anna Page, reduces this to a single point of contact, saving each user an average 12 hours of time.
This is Taylor Rose’s first non-legal acquisition. CEO Adrian Jaggard said: “…the SlothMove team are highly impressive and are solving a problem that many of our property clients face – using the latest property technology to quickly and easily update our clients’ personal details across a myriad of often disparate services to help save hours of hassle and make moving house a more stress-free and secure process.
“We are highly confident in SlothMove’s future and believe our investment will help propel SlothMove to its next stage of growth, whilst providing benefits to our market-leading conveyancing teams.”
The SlothMove team is now at ten-strong and will use the seven-figure investment from Taylor Rose to develop its technology, help employ 50 additional members of staff, as well as developing further commercial partnerships. The business was recognised for its innovation in 2020 by the British Business Bank.
SlothMove CEO and co-founder Jack Roberts said: “Our partnership with Taylor Rose MW marks our next stage of growth in fulfilling our mission to change the way the UK moves, making it as hassle-free as possible. Taylor Rose MW’s investment will supercharge our growth, creating new jobs across technology, operations and business development. All of this enables us to take the stress out of moving and reduce fraud risk for our rapidly expanding userbase.”
Angelene Woodland, chief marketing officer at the British Business Bank, added: “As part of Small Business Advice Week in 2020, Piers Linney, then non-executive director at the British Business Bank, recognised the potential in SlothMove and provided them with mentoring and advice. We are pleased to see so much progress and growth in the business since then and wish Anna, Jack, and the team every success in the future.”
Taylor Rose in May 2020 acquired UK top 100 firm McMillan Williams Solicitors in a pre-pack administration deal, with the aim to be a leading player in the UK consumer law market. The combined firm had a revenue of over £40m firm with 32 offices nationwide, placing it in the top 75 firms by revenue.
In March 2021, Taylor Rose said it is eyeing further acquisitions after receiving £5m in investment from McMillan Williams co-founder John McMillan. It acquired Warrington practice FDR Law in July 2021, taking its revenue to £70m.
caroline@legaltechnology.com
