Sun, 28 Jun 2026 | BUSINESS SALE
Dwelly, the London-based AI-enabled property technology group, has acquired Settio Property Experience, a Manchester-headquartered property management and investment advisory business, in a deal that gives the acquirer its first international footprint. The transaction, confirmed on June 26 2026, is Dwelly's seventh acquisition of the year.
No information has been disclosed on the transaction terms.
The deal adds more than 2,000 fully managed properties to Dwelly's network and takes the group's total to around 14,000 properties under management nationwide, up from roughly 12,000 before completion. It also brings Settio's offices in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Singapore into the group.
Settio was founded in 2017 by Samuel Fitz-Hugh and Chris Parsonage, who built the business around the needs of international investors buying into UK residential property. Headquartered at the Northspring Building in Manchester, the firm expanded from the city's new-build market into London and Birmingham before opening an office in Singapore's Raffles Place, from which Parsonage drives business development across the Asia-Pacific region. The company grew organically, without prior external investment.
The business now serves more than 2,500 clients across 17 countries and manages over £600 million of property assets. It operates in 13 languages, moved 1,863 tenants into homes during 2025, and holds ARLA Propertymark accreditation, with its work overseen by the UK Property Ombudsman. The firm runs its lettings and sales operations on MRI software and has accumulated more than 2,200 five-star reviews on Trustpilot.
Settio's proposition centres on guiding overseas buyers through the full cycle of owning UK residential property, from acquisition and tenanting through to ongoing management, with a particular focus on investors in the Asia-Pacific region who hold their assets remotely.
That positioning is the element Dwelly has identified as distinct from its earlier purchases, all of which were domestic agencies serving primarily UK-based landlords.
For Dwelly, the acquisition represents a strategic shift. Its six previous deals of 2026 were all UK domestic lettings agencies, whereas Settio brings an established overseas investor network, a Singapore base and multilingual capability. The combination gives Dwelly a distribution channel through which to offer UK residential investment opportunities to overseas capital, a growing segment as UK property has drawn increasing interest from Asian investors.
Sam Humphreys, Head of M&A at Dwelly, said: "This is a hugely important acquisition for Dwelly because it represents something entirely new for the business. Businesses of this calibre don't come to market very often and in recent years Settio's founders received interest and offers of acquisition from other parties, so we're incredibly proud that Samuel and Chris decided the opportunity was right and chose Dwelly as their long-term partner because it validates what we're building."
Samuel Fitz-Hugh, Co-founder of Settio, said: "From the outset, our ambition was to build a business capable of supporting remote and international investors to an exceptional standard through every stage of their interaction with the UK property market. Joining Dwelly allows us to continue that journey from a position of strength."
In keeping with Dwelly's approach to previous acquisitions, Settio is expected to retain its brand, team and operational identity while gaining access to the group's technology platform and balance sheet. Both founders are expected to remain with the combined group.
Dwelly was relaunched in its current form in 2023 by Chief Executive Ilia Drozdov, a former general manager at Uber, and Chief Operating Officer Dan Lifshits, previously a global vice president at the ride-hailing firm Gett. The company acquires independent lettings agencies and layers a proprietary artificial intelligence operating platform across them, with the aim of improving service levels and margins on each acquired customer base.
According to figures published by the company, the platform finds tenants in under two weeks, against an industry average of around three, and resolves maintenance issues in 20 days, compared with a typical 50, with a target of 10. It also reports generating an average of 10 validated offers per property within three days of listing.
The model is built around the fragmented nature of the UK lettings market, which comprises roughly 20,000 independent agencies managing about 5.5 million rental properties and generating more than £100 billion in annual rent. The largest 100 firms control less than 30% of the market, leaving substantial room for consolidation.
Settio is the latest in a rapid run of deals. Dwelly began 2026 with the acquisition of Brookdale Property Management in January, followed by Goodwin Property Services in March and London agency Eden Harper. It went on to buy Leicestershire firm Albery Tyson, which added around 250 properties and was folded into its SBK Lettings operation in Market Harborough, before a fifth, unnamed deal in June and the purchase of Cheltenham agency Move, which brought three branches and around 1,100 properties. The group had previously completed six acquisitions across 2025, having made its first-ever deal, for Hull-based Lime Property, in September 2024.
The acquisitions have been underpinned by external funding. In February 2026, Dwelly raised £69 million ($93 million) in a growth round structured as £32 million of equity and $50 million of debt, with venture firm General Catalyst leading the equity and Trinity Capital, the Nasdaq-listed lender, providing the debt facility. Begin Capital and S16VC also participated on the equity side, the latter having backed the company at seed stage in December 2024. Co-founder Dan Lifshits said in a March 2026 interview that Dwelly had raised approximately £70 million to date.
The company has signalled further ambitions. Bloomberg reported in May 2026 that Dwelly was in talks to raise around $200 million in combined equity and debt, with General Catalyst expected to participate again, although the round has not been confirmed as closed. Dwelly has not disclosed its own valuation.
The group has set out a target of reaching 50,000 properties under management by the end of 2026 and is aiming for top-five status among UK lettings agents. Its headcount, which stood at around 300 at the time of the February fundraise, is projected to exceed 1,500 by year-end. With the Settio deal complete, Dwelly now combines a UK consolidation strategy with an established route to international investors.
See also Consolidation starting to grip UK estate agent market
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