US-based online mortgage lender Better.com has closed a $200m series D round featuring insurance group Ping An and payment services firm American Express, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Private equity firm L Catterton led the round, which the company confirmed today, and which included financial services provider Ally Financial, Activant Capital and 9Yards Capital, while American Express invested through its American Express Ventures unit. It valued Better at about $4bn.
Founded in 2016, Better runs an online platform where users can access home loans through a streamlined service that does not require meeting in person, using an automated system to make offers within minutes.
The company’s business has benefitted from social distancing related to the coronavirus pandemic as well as refinancings linked to low interest rates. The valuation represents an increase of almost sevenfold from the $600m at which it last raised funding, in a $160m series C round in August 2019.
The 2019 round included American Express Ventures, Ping An’s Global Voyager Fund, Ally Financial, financial services firm Citi, real estate investment trust AGNC, Goldman Sachs, Activant Capital, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Pine Brook Partners and Kleiner Perkins.
Better has now raised $454m altogether, its earlier funding coming from Goldman Sachs and its Principal Strategic Investments unit, Pine Brook, KCK Group, IA Ventures and Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Vishal Garg, Better’s founder and chief executive, said today: “Better was founded to help eliminate unnecessary barriers to home financing.
“We are committed to working tirelessly for our customers, growing our team and building out our technology to provide them the best possible experience when pursuing homeownership.”
