I started out as a lawyer in the city before moving into investment banking, where I built a career in alternative assets. In 2009, recognising the seismic shift in credit and lending markets that would follow from the global financial crisis, I co-founded Venn. Initially, we advised on portfolio disposals by banks, but we soon identified the opportunity to build a lending business that could lend into market-segments that are less well-suited to banks. In 2026 it might feel like every other investment manager is a non-bank lending platform, but back in 2012 we were one of the first in the space. 

Given our founding team’s experience, our focus was on asset-based lending such as real estate. Unlike many other non-bank lenders, we made a conscious choice from the outset to target high-quality loans rather than distressed situations. Whilst that theoretically brings us close to banks, in practice there are many large segments in the market that the banks don’t cover, and which are better-suited to the longer-term, more patient capital available from insurance companies and pension funds. This shows up in our numbers today, where Venn’s combined loan portfolio and active mandates is in excess of £10 billion GBP across five strategies, whilst we have experienced zero credit losses to date. 

A Scalable Operating Model

Our operating model centres on a head office that performs centralised investment management functions for institutional clients whilst supporting multiple specialist lending businesses within market segments that Venn has selected. Since the early days, we have invested in proprietary technology to bring efficiencies to what we do, and we’re excited to harness the capabilities of AI in appropriate areas. 

Our strategy selection process reflects a long list of criteria, but we always look for strategies that address a gap between market-place demand on the one hand and the supply of bank capital on the other, and which present risk and reward characteristics which work for institutional investors. 

Specialising in Residential Impact

Since 2018, we have narrowed our focus to the residential market, where those gaps are huge and growing and where our activity is also able to deliver a social or environmental impact such as to support the increased supply of housing, to improve the quality and energy-efficiency of the UK’s dated housing stock, or to provide pathways to home-ownership for workers and families who are under-served by traditional mortgages.

In recognition of the nascent stage of some of our strategies as well as the scale of the opportunities, two of our strategies are guaranteed by the UK government under multi-billion pound guarantee programs. We also recently completed the first investment series of our Sharia-compliant home ownership strategy, which has deployed over £300m of funding to over 1,100 households.

Our specialisation within the residential market also gives us a unique perspective on risk-management as well as opportunity across the market. For example, when we talk to a housing developer, we can work with them in multiple different ways, whether that’s a loan for the development phase, a loan for the operating phase, or products that help families to buy a home from them.

Unlocking Demand for New-Build Homes

Our latest strategy is a consumer product that is designed to unlock ‘effective’ demand for new-build homes. By doing this, it will help more families onto the housing ladder and also help to clear the unsold stock of new-build homes which is holding back developers from building more. We believe therefore that the product will become an instrumental part of tackling the housing crisis in the UK in a sustainable, impactful way.

This product allows the consumer to choose their home from a large nationwide inventory of newly-built properties. Subject to the applicant meeting our affordability and consumer-credit checks and paying a 1% deposit, our fund will then acquire the property and grant the applicant a lease of at least 5 years. During this time the customer will pay a fixed rent plus modest annual surcharge, such that at the end of the lease they will own at least 10% of the home, which can be used as a deposit for a mortgage. 

Market Opportunity and Investment Appeal

We see the target addressable market for this product in excess of £5 billion GBP, and our operating partner has developed powerful tech tools to be able to deliver at scale. Whilst we see the strategy as appealing to pension funds once it has reached sufficient scale, we also think it will be interesting alternative investment for high net worth and family office investors who have previously invested in buy-to-let strategies. We are expecting our initial seed equity investor to be a UK family office, and we are close to securing a debt partnership with a UK building society.

As well as falling on the right side of the tightening regulation of housing rentals, the strategy offers an efficient way to invest on a regional basis and with a lower cost operating model, all of which support attractive returns from a granular portfolio of new build homes. We hope to launch in the spring. 

The team at Venn is excited and motivated to build on the foundations we have built and hopes to play a meaningful role in addressing the UK’s housing needs for years to come. 

About the Author: Gary McKenzie-Smith is Managing Partner and co-founder of Venn Partners LLP. Before founding Venn in 2009, he practised as a City lawyer and worked in investment banking, specialising in alternative assets. Under his leadership, Venn has grown to manage over £10 billion GBP across five lending strategies focused on the UK residential sector.