Raising the roof
We’ve closed our series C investment round. This significant investment of £35million — led by international venture capital firms SBI, Augmentum Fintech and mojo.capital with input from all our existing investors — will ensure that we continue in our mission to make owning and financing a home in the UK easier and better for as many people as possible.
What’s more, we’ve been recognised as one of the UK’s top high-growth companies, being among the first to receive a portion of the government’s Future Fund scheme.
I’m beyond proud of what we’ve achieved as a business over the last four years. In 2016, we set out to revolutionise a £1.3trilllion industry that had seen little to no innovation for more than a generation. We started with the brokerage — the part of our business that provides regulated mortgage advice and processes applications to the banks and lenders. We set to work making the clunky, murky world of mortgages easier, cheaper, quicker and less stressful using proprietary technology and the very best people to help homeowners make the biggest financial decision of their life.
But improving the process of getting home-financing was only ever going to be part of the battle. In order to truly disrupt the industry, we knew that mortgages themselves needed to be innovated. Which is why last year, we became a lender so we could start designing and building mortgages and financial products around customers and their needs.
And then we went further. This year, with the launch of Habito Plus, we’ve been tackling the home-buying process itself, by bringing together conveyancing and searches under one roof to ensure a smoother transition from offer accepted to getting the keys.
This new investment will allow us to continue to improve and innovate across these three areas. It will ensure that we continue to digitise as much as possible of the mortgage journey to make time for quality person-to-person interactions, it will allow us to develop customer-centric residential mortgages and it will enable us to solve more of the homebuying pain points that buyers and sellers alike still have to endure.
It will also help us to make a positive impact in the wider world: Habito has become the first-ever B Corp certified mortgage company, meaning we join a global community of businesses with a legal obligation to put people and planet on the same level as profit.
To me, this new investment in Habito is akin to moving house. As a community, we’ve built something very special together and now it’s time to move on and up the ladder. We’ve got the keys to a bigger place and it’s moving day. Much around us is familiar and what’s important remains but opportunity and new beginnings await.
Thank you to all of our customers, investors — new and existing — the government and Habitonians for all your support and commitment in helping us get to this point. The UK property market is the beating heart of the nation’s economy and I’m extremely proud and excited to be playing a part in its bright future.
