PROP tech startup secures deal with a leading law firm

SlothMove, which offers users a 'stress-free' change of address and home-setup service when moving home, was only formed three years ago. The business flourished during the pandemic as property sales soared and now legal giants Taylor Rose MW have acquired a stake in the business, which has also been championed by former Dragon’s Den star Piers Linney. 

Commenting on the deal SlothMove’s CEO 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 user base.

Taylor Rose MW CEO Adrian Jaggard added: “The SlothMove team is 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. We are excited to work with the SlothMove team going forward.”

Founded just three years ago in Sheffield, SlothMove has grown to 3,500 active monthly users. Movers have flocked to the platform because they can easily change their details across hundreds of businesses, including loyalty programmes, utility providers, council tax, water and many more in one quick, hassle-free process.

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 reduces this to just one single point of contact, saving each user an average 12 hours of time. SlothMove is the latest prop-tech disrupter, Rated Excellent on TrustPilot, and helping over 50,000 movers to date.

The inspiration for SlothMove partly came from co-founder Anna Page (COO, formerly working at Amazon), who was tired of the long and bureaucratic process of individually updating local authorities, central government departments and service providers about her new address. The move marks Taylor Rose’s first non-legal acquisition as it continues to innovate and strengthen its core customer proposition.

The SlothMove team is now at ten-strong and will use the seven-figure investment from Taylor Rose MW 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.

The company also uses a 256-bit SSL encryption system and Triple DES encryption to help set a new standard for security and data ethics to stop identity fraud, synonymous with moving home. Last year, homeowners collectively lost over £3.5m from fraudulent transactions, affecting thousands of households; people who forget to update their details may see vital personal information fall into the wrong hands when letters are delivered to an old address.

The platform also helps conservation efforts by working with the Sloth Conservation organisation to invest revenue across South America with the aim of increasing habitat connectivity in urban areas to help preserve wildlife.

Angelene Woodland, Chief Marketing Officer at the British Business Bank, said: “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.”

Dragons’ Den star and founder of small business service provider, Moblox, Piers Linney led a mastermind session with SlothMove in 2020 as part of British Business Bank's small business of the year competition.

He said: "It's fantastic to see how the SlothMove team have developed the business from an idea to a handful of customers to the fast-growing business it is today. When we met, we explored SlothMove's product-market fit and its monetisation strategy. Creating something new is never easy, but the team has taken on my advice and with dedication has taken it to another level."