Venture Studio from Crisis

Venture Studio from Crisis is the award-winning impact investment arm of Crisis, the UK national homelessness charity, launched in 2020 and based in London. It invests in and supports startups developing innovative solutions to homelessness and the housing crisis, using philanthropic capital to provide equity funding to businesses that can help end homelessness for those experiencing it or prevent it from happening in the first place, driving efficiency and affordability in housing. Beyond capital, the studio offers founders access to subject expertise, a test bed with experts-by-experience, and a range of technical, business and product support, and it is willing to lead. Its investment focus spans UK-based proptech, geospatial and 'plantech' planning-technology startups tackling the causes or consequences of homelessness, as well as modular and affordable housing and ethical fintech. To date it has backed around eight companies, including Agile Homes, which builds low-carbon, rapidly built affordable homes; Pfida, offering ethical, interest-free financial products and debt-free homes; Bridge Housing Solutions, matching people in temporary accommodation with available social housing; Urban Intelligence, a data-and-planning tool helping local authorities prioritise housing sites; and Husmus, a fintech making private-sector renting fairer, whose Crisis seed funding helped unlock further investment from Innovate UK and Google. The studio is raising a £20m philanthropic fund, 'This Venture Fund Ends Homelessness,' to invest in more than 70 startups over roughly a decade. By deploying charitable capital into housing and homelessness solutions, Venture Studio from Crisis backs founders working to end and prevent homelessness.