About Lavanda
Lavanda is a multi award-winning tech company with global headquarters in London, UK. Our team of digital entrepreneurs and real estate thought leaders have been working at the bleeding edge of "proptech" innovation since 2015.
Building upon our own experience of managing vacation rental properties at scale, we designed and developed a best-in-class SaaS platform that allows residential property owners and operators to access short-term rental demand, while delivering a scalable hospitality experience through a mix of in-house and Lavanda-supported operations.
Fast forward to today and Lavanda powers short term rentals and hospitality operations for a rapidly growing number of the world's leading real estate companies, blending first class technology with scalable services and operational support where needed.
Meet our leadership team
Our people are our greatest asset. Meet the friendly, passionate and dedicated people driving Lavanda forward
Guy Westlake Founder
Prior to starting Lavanda, Guy was Head of Marketing at Shutl (acquired by eBay) where he was also the company’s first employee. Guy has a Masters in European Business from ESCP-EAP in Paris and a BA in Spanish & Italian from Bristol University.
Fred Lerche-Lerchenborg CEO
Fred was both COO and Head of Growth at Lavanda before becoming the company's CEO. He previously worked in investment banking and fund management for 10 years, with his experience spanning Tech M&A roles at Credit Suisse and helping manage a £3bn+ fund at Artemis. Fred has a BA in Financial Economics.
David Larpent CPO
David leads our talented, multi-disciplinary Product, Design and Engineering teams. He previously co-founded and led Product at two high growth tech startups, as well as holding senior roles in HM Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Cabinet Office. He's an experienced CPO and CTO with 10+ years experience hiring and developing high-performing multidisciplinary agile Product and Engineering teams.
Dan Taylor VP Operations
Dan is our VP Operations, and has previously headed up our Guest Experience and Customer Service functions. Prior to Lavanda, Dan founded and led two startup businesses, held an executive position at an international charity, and led strategic operational projects at Centrica and Barclays. Dan has a BSc in Business Management & Communications from the University of Birmingham.
Joshua Thornton Head of Engineering
Josh joined Lavanda in 2021 from GoDaddy where he led improvement of software development practices as Director of Engineering Rigour. He has a wealth of engineering leadership experience and management experience as well as very strong technical skills as an engineer.
Scott Craig VP Customer Success
Scott leads customer success at Lavanda since January 2022. He has a wealth of experience in the proptech industry, previously leading customer success at VTS.