Morty, an online mortgage marketplace that’s focused on serving homebuyers, has closed a $25 million Series B financing round that will allow it to beef up its hiring, marketing, and product development and bring its services to homebuyers nationwide by the end of the year.
The New York-based mortgage broker said it will also pursue partnerships that allow it to embed its technology in “the greater real estate ecosystem.”
Founded in 2016 by CEO Nora Apsel and CTO Adam Rothblatt, Morty launched in 10 markets in 2017 with 10 lending partners and $3 million in funding. Two years later, the company rolled out a new platform aimed at streamlining the borrowing process for first-time homebuyers, providing real-time verification of financial information rivaling the speed and certainty of an all-cash offer.
Over the past 12 months, Morty says it’s processed more than $500 million in loans, boosting revenue eight-fold over that period.
States where Morty is a licensed mortgage broker
Map showing states in dark blue where Morty was a licensed mortgage broker as of July, 2021. Source: Morty.com.
Morty is licensed as a mortgage broker in 36 states and Washington, D.C. The platform is available in most states east of the Mississippi, with the exceptions of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. In the western half of the U.S., Morty is not available in 10 states, including Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
The company says it intends to serve homebuyers nationwide by the end of 2021 and explore “B2B2C opportunities” making its technology more widely available. A spokesperson for Morty said the company “is building a suite of API tools that enable partners to offer mortgage services within their own product. Home finance is relevant to a wide range of media, real estate, and financial technology companies.”
The spokesperson said the Series B financing will allow Morty, which currently employs 35 people, to ramp up its engineering efforts to support a wider range mortgages, broadening the company’s current focus on conventional purchase loans.
Nora Apsel
By providing personalized, interactive loan selection that allows clients to lock in competitive rates, and then standing “shoulder-to-shoulder with them through to closing,” Morty’s business model and philosophy “are about advocating for homebuyers,” Apsel said in a statement. “This investment will allow us to develop our product and pursue partnerships that align with that worldview.”
The latest funding round brings the total raised by Morty to date to $38.4 million and was led by March Capital, with participation by Rethink Impact and existing investors Thrive Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Prudence Holdings, FJ Labs and MetaProp.
Julia Klein
“Morty’s proprietary mortgage automation platform and partnerships with leading lenders offer homebuyers a streamlined experience and highly competitive rates,” said March Capital’s Julia Klein. “We have great confidence in this team and are excited to partner with them in facilitating homeownership, which will remain a cornerstone of the U.S. economy.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to provide additional details provided by a Morty spokesperson.
