Cazoo’s Alex Chesterman backs legal tech startup in £1.5M funding that lets lawyers verify client identity in minutes

Based out of London, Thirdfort is an app-based solution that lets conveyancers verify client ID and source of funds in minutes.

Recently, the legal tech startup has secured £1.5 million in funding, bringing the company’s total funds raised to £4.2 million.

Thirdfort was founded by school friends Olly Thornton-Berry and Jack Bidgood after a friend was defrauded out of £25,000 whilst buying a flat in London.

Thirdfort is a web and mobile app that combines Open Banking, document scanning, and facial recognition technology, to streamline identity and source of funds checks carried out during legal and property transactions.

The platform lets lawyers and property professionals onboard their clients quickly, securely, and entirely remotely.

The latest funding was raised from existing investors, with the funds doubled via a convertible loan from the Government, as part of its Future Fund programme.

This latest round marks the third investment from Alex Chesterman OBE (founder of Cazoo, Zoopla, and LoveFilm), as well as further backing from the likes of law firm Mishcon de Reya, Chris Marks (former CEO of Natwest Markets), and David Rutter (founder of R3), among others.

The funding will be used to support expansion in the legal and property sectors for the digital ID and anti-money-laundering startup.

As per the company’s claims, the solution is now used to remotely ‘onboard’ over 30,000 clients each month, a ten-fold increase on pre-pandemic numbers on behalf of more than 500 law firms and property businesses.

Right now, the company employs around 54 people. Thirdfort is the only company in the legal space to combine an ID AND source of funds product to offer best-in-class AML.

Olly Thornton-Berry, co-founder and Managing Director: “We’re using cutting edge technology to help lawyers and property professionals minimise fraud risk, whilst improving the client experience during life’s big moments.

These tools have the backing of regulators, Government bodies, and a growing number of firms, and our objective is for Thirdfort to become the new standard in legal security, as well as expanding into adjacent markets such as the estate agent and mortgage space. That means building better products and doing so faster than ever, and we’re delighted that some of the UK’s leading angel investors support this strategy.”

Alex Chesterman OBE, founder of Cazoo, Zoopla, and LoveFilm: “My passion in business is for solving problems, and the team at Thirdfort has developed a product that tackles an issue affecting hundreds of thousands of us each year the cumbersome process of buying and selling homes.

This hasn’t changed for decades and is ripe for transformation, particularly around the compliance aspects that affect not just consumers and their lawyers, but also agents, brokers, and lenders.

We also see huge scope to develop what the platform can offer to the wider legal profession, and I’m delighted to support the team as they continue to grow from strength to strength.”