US-based mortgage financing provider Better.com completed a $160m series C round today featuring insurance group Ping An, financial services firms Citi and Ally Financial, and payment services provider American Express.
Real estate investment trust AGNC, investment bank Goldman Sachs, Activant Capital, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Pine Brook Partners and Kleiner Perkins also took part.
Ping An and American Express contributed to the round through subsidiaries Ping An Global Voyager Fund, American Express Ventures respectively, the latter backing its $70m first tranche in February 2019. It was closed at a $600m post-money valuation, Better told Fortune.
Better runs an online platform that allows users to access more transparent mortgage financing, securing a precise mortgage estimate in seconds and tracking its process at any time.
The platform has financed some $4bn of home loans since it was founded in 2016. It supplies the financing itself but does not charge fees or pay commissions, instead relying on the elimination of inefficiencies in order to make money.
Lindsay Fitzgerald, managing director of American Express Ventures, said: “Better.com is reengineering and digitising the mortgage process, making the entire home-buying experience faster and more affordable. We are delighted to support Better.com as they continue to grow and transform the market.”
The round brought Better’s overall funding to $254m, it said. Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, Pine Brook, KCK Group and IA Ventures supplied $30m of series A funding for the company in 2016 at a $110m valuation.
Better added $15m in an early 2017 series B round featuring Goldman Sachs, Pine Brook and Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that doubled its valuation to $220m.
