Two very different platforms for property developers
DealLocker and Assesr both serve UK property developers, but they solve fundamentally different problems. DealLocker is an investment marketplace — it connects developers with private investors who want to co-invest through equity or mezzanine. Assesr is an AI-powered development finance marketplace — it generates institutional-grade credit papers and matches deals to specialist lenders for senior development finance.
The most immediate difference? DealLocker charges £70 per month per user before you can access a single deal. Assesr charges nothing until your deal draws down.
What DealLocker does
DealLocker (Deallocker Limited, incorporated April 2024) positions itself as a "whole of market" platform for professional real estate investment. In practice, it operates as a marketplace connecting two sides:
- Deal providers (developers, sponsors, brokers) list deals seeking equity co-investment or second charge finance
- Investors (HNWIs, family offices, professional investors) browse deals and connect with providers
The platform includes CRM features (contacts, documents, KYC management), AI deal summaries, an electronic NDA system, and a capital calculator for modelling equity splits. DealLocker claims £2.8 billion in GDV listed across their marketplace with a 2.2x multiple across 58 equity deals.
DealLocker's pricing: subscription plus transaction fees
This is where DealLocker becomes expensive. The platform has a layered pricing model:
- Premium membership: £70/month per user — required to list deals, get AI summaries, and access the contacts address book
- Enterprise tier: £350/month per company — adds workflow management, contract management, document storage, portfolio tracking, and KYC management. Requires at least one Premium subscription.
- Transaction fees on completed deals: 1% for senior first charge under 65% LTV, 1.5% over 65% LTV, 2.25% for second charge, and 3.5% for equity deals
On a typical equity deal, you're paying £70/month in subscriptions plus 3.5% on completion. For a £1M equity raise, that's £35,000 in transaction fees alone — on top of the subscription you've already been paying.
Crucially, the subscription is charged regardless of whether any deals complete. If it takes six months to close a deal, you've paid £420 in subscriptions before seeing any return.
What Assesr does differently
Assesr takes the opposite approach to pricing — and to what it actually delivers:
- No subscription. Submit a deal, generate a credit paper, and get matched to lenders without paying a penny.
- 0.5% on drawdown only. You pay when — and only when — your deal completes and you draw down funds.
- AI credit paper generation. Upload your documents (planning consents, QS reports, valuations, title deeds) and get a 10-section institutional-grade credit paper in 60 seconds.
- 50+ specialist development finance lenders. Mandate-matched, so your deal goes to lenders who actually fund your type of project.
- Automated document extraction. AI reads your PDFs, images, and spreadsheets — no manual data entry.
- Sensitivity analysis and risk grading. Every credit paper includes stress-tested scenarios and A–E risk grading with sourced comparable data.
Head-to-head: the key differences
Here's how the two platforms compare on what matters most to property developers:
- What they source: Assesr matches to senior development finance lenders (banks, funds, specialist lenders). DealLocker connects with private investors for equity and mezzanine — a completely different capital source.
- Pricing model: Assesr charges 0.5% on drawdown with zero upfront cost. DealLocker charges £70/month plus 1–3.5% on completion.
- Credit papers: Assesr generates a full 10-section credit paper with sourced figures, risk grading, and sensitivity analysis. DealLocker produces AI deal summaries — useful for investors but not the institutional-grade analysis lenders require.
- Document handling: Assesr extracts data from uploaded documents using AI. DealLocker requires manual deal listing creation.
- Speed: Assesr generates credit papers in 60 seconds with 4.2-hour average lender response. DealLocker's marketplace model means deal timelines depend on investor interest, which can take weeks or months.
- Regulation: Neither platform is FCA regulated for development finance (which is exempt under RAO). However, DealLocker's unregulated investment marketplace model means investors have no FSCS or Financial Ombudsman protection.
- Track record: DealLocker was incorporated in April 2024 with £100 in share capital and two directors. There are no independent reviews on Trustpilot or third-party coverage at the time of writing.
Cost comparison: a £3M development deal
Say you need £3M in development finance. Here's what each platform costs:
- Assesr: £0 upfront. 0.5% on drawdown = £15,000. Total: £15,000, paid only on success.
- DealLocker: £70/month × 6 months (average deal timeline) = £420 subscription. Plus transaction fee of 1–3.5% depending on deal type. For a second charge deal at 2.25%: £67,500 + £420 = £67,920. For equity at 3.5%: £105,000 + £420 = £105,420.
Even on a first charge deal at DealLocker's lowest rate (1%), the cost is £30,420 — double what Assesr charges, with a subscription on top.
What lenders say
Feedback from development finance lenders has been clear: subscription-based platforms create friction. Lenders don't want to receive deals from platforms that charge developers monthly just to participate — it signals that the platform is monetising access rather than deal quality.
With Assesr, every deal a lender receives has been through AI analysis, risk grading, and sensitivity testing. The standardised 10-section credit paper format means lenders can review and compare submissions quickly. That's why average lender response time on Assesr is 4.2 hours.
DealLocker's model — where deal providers pay to list and investors browse — puts the burden on the developer to attract interest. There's no pre-analysis, no standardised format, and no guarantee of investor engagement.
When DealLocker makes sense
DealLocker serves a specific niche that Assesr does not directly cover:
- You specifically need equity co-investors or mezzanine finance from private capital — not senior development finance from institutional lenders
- You're looking for JV partners who will share in the project risk and returns
- You've already secured senior debt and need to fill the equity gap in your capital stack
- You're comfortable with the subscription cost and understand that investments are unregulated
When Assesr is the better choice
- You need senior development finance — the primary loan for your construction project
- You want an institutional-grade credit paper that demonstrates your deal's viability to lenders
- You don't want to pay a monthly subscription — especially before knowing whether the platform will deliver results
- You want your deal pre-analysed, risk-graded, and sent to mandate-matched lenders automatically
- You're a first-time developer who needs the kind of credit paper an experienced broker would produce
The bottom line
DealLocker and Assesr aren't direct competitors — they address different parts of the capital stack. DealLocker connects developers with private equity investors; Assesr connects developers with senior development finance lenders.
But if you're comparing them as platforms, the pricing difference is hard to ignore. DealLocker charges £70/month before you do anything, then takes 1–3.5% on completion. Assesr charges nothing upfront and takes 0.5% on drawdown only.
For most UK property developers, senior development finance is the primary need — and Assesr delivers it with AI-generated credit papers, 50+ specialist lenders, and zero cost until the deal completes. If you also need equity investors, DealLocker is an option — just go in with your eyes open about the subscription commitment and transaction fees.