A consortium of prominent real estate and private equity leaders, including Preqin founder Mark O’Hare, has acquired a 41% stake in Verafind, the AI-enabled land acquisition platform formerly known as VirginLand by Ringley. The move marks a significant vote of confidence in the company’s technology-led approach to unlocking development opportunities across the UK and Europe.
The group also includes Will Killick and Andrew Pettit, founding partners of private equity real estate investment manager Revcap Advisors, which oversees £4.5 billion in assets, as well as Darryl Flay, co-founder of Macquarie-backed rental housing investment manager Goodstone Living and an early figure in the development of the UK Build to Rent sector.
“Land acquisition and planning have always been bottlenecks in the property industry; causing delays and costs for landowners and developers alike – not to mention for our country, which urgently needs more houses. Verafind changes all of that, by streamlining and professionalising the entire process for the benefit of all. I’m excited to be involved with a growing young business that is transforming the property industry – and also from my own experience at Preqin I know how powerful the right data and data-enabled services are in streamlining commerce; and what fantastic businesses they can evolve to be.”
Mark O’Hare, Founder, Preqin
Ringley Group, which co-founded Verafind in 2022 and helped scale the business, has sold its majority shareholding to pave the way for investment but will remain closely involved to support the platform’s future growth.
“We’ve been on an exciting journey with the Verafind team, incubating the business from a standing start to the successful platform it is today. We’re proud of our achievements to date and the new investment represents the start of a new chapter, and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship with Dan, Charlie and the team.”
Mary-Anne Bowring, Co-Founder of VirginLand by Ringley and Managing Director of Ringley Group
Co-founded by Dan Robinson, Verafind serves developers, investors and asset owners across residential, commercial and infrastructure markets. Clients include major names such as Taylor Wimpey, Eon and Wates. Acting as an outsourced land department, the company identifies opportunities across EV, roadside, energy, industrial and traditional development sectors.
Headquartered in London, Verafind’s 15-person team is led by Dan Robinson, Charlie Youngs and Freddy Hoare. The platform uses AI, proprietary datasets and in-house geospatial tools to streamline land identification and acquisition. Its system assesses sector requirements, lease structures and development potential, while qualifying vendors and recommending acquisition strategies. It also produces viability assessments, planning reports and valuation models.
“This is an exciting strategic milestone for the business that demonstrates proof of concept, where we are leveraging sophisticated technological solutions to unlock a deeply opaque land market. Our new investors recognise that as the AI landscape evolves, there is early mover advantage to be had by backing emerging companies applying it to a part of the real estate market that has always suffered from a lack of innovation.
“The new investment will help us achieve scale at an accelerated pace, enabling us to enhance our existing capabilities in AI, data and modelling, while providing the freedom to build out new products and expand into new geographies.”
Dan Robinson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Verafind
The investment consortium aims to accelerate Verafind’s next stage of development, including strengthening AI capabilities, upgrading data infrastructure and expanding into European markets.
“We are proud to have created a lasting land search platform, we welcome the new investors and the broad range of additional expertise they bring, this will undoubtedly accelerate Verafind’s capability to emerge as class leader in data driven site acquisition and look forward to continuing on the Board and working alongside the investor consortium.”
Mehdi Mehra, Group Chairman, Ringley Group
