Better.com Raises $160 Mn Series C As It Strengthens India Presence

New York-headquartered digital lending company Better.com has raised $160 Mn in Series C funding. The investment has come in from Activant Capital, Ping An Global Voyager Fund, Ally Financial, Citi, AGNC, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and American Express Ventures with existing investors Goldman Sachs, Pine Brook, and Kleiner Perkins.

With this round, the company has raised $254 Mn funding. The funds will be used to accelerate its investment in product development, grow its strategic partnerships, expand its team and scale the platform.

Over the last eight months, Better says it has scaled its Indian operations as Indian office plays a key role in business operations, risk management, fulfilment and analytics. The company increased its team from 50 to 300 with a new office in Gurugram. It is also looking to hire 150 more people across functions by the end of 2019.

Founded in 2016 by Vishal Garg, Better offers home mortgages with no loan commission, zero hidden fees and no bait-and-switch rate quotes. Customers are able to upload and eSign documents, get loan estimates in seconds and a pre-approval.

“At Better.com, we are delivering a digital experience to our customers in a highly innovative and scalable way.  Our numbers validate the customer’s conviction in our product, and we’re looking for people to help grow it and be a part of this journey,” said Bhavesh Sharma, country head, India, Better.com.

Better.com claims to have grown 3x year-over-year and is currently funding $375 Mn in mortgages a month in the US. It aims to lend over $4 Bn in 2019.

In India, the company’s scale of growth has much more potential keeping in mind the risk-laden and slow lending processes. While banks across public and private sector see increasing footfall for home financing, the wave of technology-enabled lending via startups has created the new wave of access to capital.

A BCG report has predicted the digital lending industry to touch the $1 Tn mark in the next five years. In the home financing space, Better.com competes with players such as Easy Home Finance, NoBroker.com etc.

Between 2015 and Q1 2019, the total investment in Indian fintech startups was $7.62 Bn with a total deal count of 478. Out of the total funding, 50.13% or $3.82 Bn was in payments tech startups, followed by 25.49% ($1.94 Bn) in lending tech startups, according to DataLabs by Inc42.

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