User:Ashleyshahid/sandbox

Better Mortgage (Better) is a digital mortgage lender headquartered in SoHo in New York City. In February 2018, two years after the launch of Better.com, the company surpassed $1 billion in loans originated in the U.S. Better focuses on improving the home purchase and refinance process, utilizing technology and a non-commissioned support staff to make homeownership more affordable and accessible Better was founded by Vishal Garg, along with co-founders Viral Shah, Eric Wilson, and Erik Bernhardsson. Better currently originates loans in 16 states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.

Product overview 

Better does not charge origination fees or processing fees. To make money, Better cites its streamlined technology and proprietary investor matching algorithm, developed by Better Chief Technology Officer Erik Bernhardsson. Previously, Bernhardsson built the software behind the music recommendation engine at Spotify AB. Better’s algorithm finds customers the best possible pricing and product from their investor base, which includes 21 large institutional investors that comprise over $700 billion of annual mortgage financing demand, including Government Sponsored Entities like Fannie Mae.

History 

Better was founded by Vishal Garg in 2014. It initially partnered with Avex funding, a California-based regional lender, acquiring it shortly after in 2015. Better also hired engineers from Silicon Valley to study and automate the traditionally manual (fax, telephone, paper-based) production line.

In 2016, Better closed $30 million in Series A financing, led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments group, Pine Brook, KCK Group, and IA Ventures to support technology development and drive the national expansion of the company.

Better.com was officially launched in January 2016 to automate the loan application process through a proprietary loan origination system, allowing borrowers to complete the entire process online.

On February 9, 2017, Better secured $15 million in series B funding. The funding round was led by venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers

On February 16, 2018, Better announced that the company had funded $1 billion in loans.