Mortgage tech startup Blend raised $130 million in a Series E funding round, the company announced Monday. Led by Temasek and General Atlantic, the latest capital raise brings Blend’s total funding to $310 million.
The seven-year-old fintech company and repeat HW Tech100 winner – which enables more than 150 banks to offer a digitized lending process – says it now processes nearly $2 billion of U.S. mortgages per day and that it tripled its customer base from 2017 to 2018.
And it doesn’t appear to be slowing down, starting the first half of 2019 strong with a string of impactful developments.
It kicked off the year by announcing that former Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopolous had joined as company president.
A month later, Blend announced its intention to disrupt home equity lending with the rollout of a digital process for home equity loans that shaves weeks off turn-times.
And then in May, Blend announced a partnership with Salesforce, with the customer-management software saying that it made an undisclosed “strategic investment” in Blend.
Now, the company is continuing to build its team, announcing Monday that along with the capital raise, former Pixar CFO Ann Mather has joined the board.
Mather, who currently serves on a number of boards, including Alphabet, Airbnb and Netflix, will be an independent member of the board bringing her technology expertise to the table, Blend said.
With the recent capital infusion, Blend said it plans to continue growing its team of nearly 400 employees and will invest in new technology, seek new partnerships, and expand its offering into broader suite of consumer lending products.
"Together with our partners, we've made significant strides in transforming lending experiences for consumers and institutions across the country," said Blend Founder and CEO Nima Ghamsari. "As we build toward a more transparent and frictionless future where lending transactions happen in one tap, we're grateful to have the experience of Ann, along with the teams at Temasek and General Atlantic, in our corner for this journey."
Additional specifics of the funding round, including Blend’s latest valuation, were not disclosed.
"Blend's technology platform is driving an evolution in how lenders do business and interact with their clients," said Paul Stamas, managing director at General Atlantic. "Blend's approach of partnering with financial institutions to reimagine consumer finance has proven hugely successful thus far, and we're thrilled to assist them in their next phase of growth."
