Proptech startup Habito lands £18.5m to make mortgages digital
A fintech startup focused on making mortgage applications easier has bagged millions more in funding from top investors.
Atomico, the venture fund set up by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, led the £18.5m series B round with existing investors Ribbit Capital, Mosaic Ventures and Revolutionary (ad)Ventures also participating.
It brings total funding for the startup – which is also backed by the entrepreneurs behind Transferwise and Funding Circle Taavet Hinrikus and Samir Desai respectively – to £27.5m. Morning Wire exclusively revealed its first major round of funding earlier this year.
Habito will use the fresh cash to build on its innovative chatbot mortgage broker with home and life insurance and is working with high street banks to add its real-time mortgage approvals technology to services, the company revealed.
It has already advised 50,000 customers complete more than £250m worth of mortgages. That's up from the 20,000 completing £50m worth just nine months ago – a period of growth founder and chief executive Daniel Hegarty described as explosive.
“Since our series A, we’ve had an amazing response from customers and a period of explosive growth. Our best-in-class technology, coupled with our team of first rate mortgage experts, prevents homeowners from ever getting or staying on the wrong mortgage," he said.
"We remain committed to rebuilding the mortgage industry with the customer at its centre. That means relentlessly improving our product and service, and providing the most convenient, straightforward, and elegant way to apply for a mortgage."
It will also grow staff numbers which have already tripled since April 2016.
Atomico partner Niall Wass said: “When you see a very large inefficient market, with £30bn of annual overspend by consumers in the UK alone, and a business rethinking how to provide a simpler, faster and cheaper service to customers, more targeted access to borrowers, and with lower costs for the lender, there is a lot to like."
"Habito is a solution that is better for both sides of the mortgage market and with a great team executing with technology and customer service at its heart – Habito is a company we are excited to support," he added.