The mortgage technology startup Blend announced Monday that it has raised an additional $130 million in venture capital funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $310 million. The San Francisco-based company plans to use the capital to further grow its team of nearly 400 employees and invest in new technology.
Blend (named for “better lending”) is a digital lending platform used by companies like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. The company aims to allow consumers to go through the loan application process more seamlessly by eliminating the hordes of paperwork that accompany the traditional loan process.
The latest funding round was led by Temasek and General Atlantic and existing investors 8VC, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in the round.
“Together with our partners, we’ve made significant strides in transforming lending experiences for consumers and institutions across the country,” Nima Ghamsari, founder and CEO at Blend said in a statement.
Blend will also use the newly raised capital to double down on efforts to digitize the mortgage application and approval process, and invest in new technology to expand its suite of consumer-facing lending products.
Ann Mather. | Photo credit: Shutterfly
In addition to raising the venture capital funds, the company also announced Monday the addition of former Pixar CFO Ann Mather to an independent board member position. Mather also currently sits on the boards of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Airbnb and Netflix, among others.
“As we build toward a more transparent and frictionless future where lending transactions happen in one tap, we’re grateful to have the experience of [Mather], along with the teams at Temasek and General Atlantic, in our corner for this journey,” Ghamsari added.
Blend has taken big expansion steps and added a number of industry veterans since being founded in 2012 by former software engineers at Palantir, the data analysis and intelligence company founded by controversial Silicon Valley contrarian investor Peter Thiel (whose company Founders Fund is also a backer of Blend).
In January, the company named former Fannie Mae chief executive Timothy Mayopoulos as president.
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