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A mortgage brokerage has this week received $25 million in funding from Westpac and aims to serve 10 per cent of Australian mortgage customers by 2028.
Digital mortgage broker uno Home Loans this week announced a further $25 million investment from Westpac and the movement of founder Vincent Turner to a new role as the company embarks on a plan to serve 10 per cent of Australia’s mortgage customers in 10 years.
Westpac’s latest funding injection takes its total investment in uno to $51.5 million. The additional funding will be deployed to ramp up product innovation and business scale.U
Uno CEO and founder Vincent Turner said that since he launched the business 20 months ago, the group has established that there is “significant demand” in Australia for a digital mortgage service.
“We grew our business 600 per cent in our first financial year ending 30 September 2017, and the next phase of our strategy — which this round of funding will support — will focus on our goal to support 10 per cent of Australia’s mortgage customers to secure their home or invest in their future,” Mr Turner said.
While the company does not release its volumes, Mr Turner said that the value of deals uno is currently settling is in the “tens of millions” each month.
“Fintechs that focus on growth alone without continuing to innovate to improve the customer experience lose their competitive advantage,” Westpac group executive strategy & enterprise services Gary Thursby said. “This strategy of bringing on board a senior executive to run the business day-to-day so the founder can focus on product and innovation is widely adopted by successful technology companies worldwide.
“We continue to be impressed with the rapid growth of uno’s business, the agility of its business model and the attractiveness of its online mortgage proposition to customers.”
Uno allows customers to search, compare and settle a home loan from a panel of 22 brands including all four major banks.
While Westpac own around 81 per cent of the business, Mr Turner said that two-thirds of mortgages go to the non-major lenders.
[Related: Opinion: Why do the majors get so much broker business?]
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James Mitchell
AUTHOR
James Mitchell has over eight years’ experience as a financial reporter and is the editor of Wealth and Wellness at Momentum Media.
He has a sound pedigree to cover the business of mortgages and the converging financial services sector having reported for leading finance titles InvestorDaily, InvestorWeekly, Accountants Daily, ifa, Mortgage Business, Residential Property Manager, Real Estate Business, SMSF Adviser, Smart Property Investment, and The Adviser.
He has also been published in The Daily Telegraph and contributed online to FST Media and Mergermarket, part of the Financial Times Group.
James holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and an MA in Journalism.