Homebuyer, an Ohio-based software startup offering digital mortgages to first-time home buyers, announced on Monday it had snagged $1.4 million in a seed round from private investors.
The company was founded in 2019 by Dan Green, under the mission to make homeownership more inclusive and less expensive for first-time borrowers. An ex-software engineer, Green is also a former loan officer and founder of The Mortgage Reports, a mortgage education website that was eventually acquired by Full Beaker.
According to Homebuyer, their services offer “contextual mortgage experience” with educational curriculum, personalized content and funds loans as the originating mortgage lender.
“There are 2.5 million first-time home buyers every year in the United States,” said Green. “Homebuyer is how they learn about mortgages, get low direct-to-consumer mortgage rates, and affordably achieve their American dream of homeownership.”
Investors in the latest series included BetterLife Group, Saturn Five, and Techstars – an entrepreneurial program that promises startups resources, legal support, mentorships and connections. In particular, Homebuyer was selected for the 2020 class of Techstars Austin in December 2019.
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In July, Green said the company had actually planned to relocate to Austin around mid-March upon the conclusion of the Techstars program, however, opted for a work-from-home agenda, and an allowance for work-from-home necessities, following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Raising money was never the goal. It’s a means,” Green told HousingWire. “The goal is to build a profitable business that creates wealth for our customers. There’s a lot of work to do over the next 10 years, and we’re committed to making the decade a memorable one.”
Working towards that goal in May, Homebuyer announced a formal mortgage banking partnership with Novus Home Mortgage to continue to bolster homeownership for aspiring borrowers.
“First-time home buyers are an important and overlooked segment of the U.S. mortgage market. This is a win-win relationship,” said Novus Home Mortgage CEO Eric Egenhoefer.
In March, a Genworth Mortgage Insurance report revealed the number of first-time homebuyers showed a pace not seen since the peak of the last housing cycle in 2006 and for the third consecutive year, the number exceeded 2 million, which it called unprecedented in the past 26 years.