UpEquity Closes $25M Series A Funding to Automate and Disrupt the Legacy Homebuying Process

  • Series A funding round led by Next Coast Ventures
  • Enables consumers including first-time homebuyers to capture the power of all-cash offers; automates underwriting and democratizes homeownership in $33.6 trillion U.S. housing market
  • Funding is a combination of growth equity and venture debt; Austin headquartered startup is now active in Texas, Colorado, Florida and California, with 2021 plans for expansion into new markets

AUSTIN, Texas--()--UpEquity, the tech-enabled mortgage platform creating a better way to buy a home, today announced the closing of $25 million in Series A funding led by Next Coast Ventures. The funding consists of $7.5 million of equity financing and $17.5 million of venture debt.

UpEquity intends to use the funding for product development and business development with market-leading real estate agents and to further reduce their time-to-close to 10 days.

“Our goal is to finally align the mortgage industry with consumer interests,” said UpEquity Co-Founder and CEO Tim Herman. “This funding is validation that consumers, real estate agents and venture investors understand the power of removing friction from the homebuying process, not only for personal advancement, but to attain the American Dream.”

Frictionless Homebuying

In the competitive national real estate market, cash offers close faster and remove the risk of financing falling through. Homesellers are more likely to accept cash offers, which save buyers between 1-4% of the home sale price versus financed purchase offers.

UpEquity provides buyers with free cash offers, boosting purchasing power even for first-time homebuyers. Instead of requiring buyers to have an existing house for sale, which is the current PropTech industry standard, UpEquity provides both a cash offer and a mortgage. Automated underwriting, powered by a proprietary blend of computer vision and algorithms, ensures low mortgage rates and fast closing.

Headquartered in Austin and active in Texas, Colorado, Florida and California, UpEquity originated $100M in mortgages in 2020, making it one of the country’s fastest-growing mortgage companies. Powerful back-end technology enables UpEquity to offer lower interest rates, faster closes and more certainty through the all-cash offer.

“As real estate continues to evolve in the face of limited supply and tight competition, UpEquity is at the helm of PropTech's growing capabilities,” said Thomas Ball, managing director at Next Coast Ventures. “Most innovation has focused on the front end, but until now, nobody has expedited what happens after the borrower submits an application. UpEquity has the team, talent and technology to not only succeed, but to disrupt and emerge as the leader in the mortgage lending marketplace.”

To learn more, visit www.upequity.com/.

About UpEquity

UpEquity is a tech-enabled mortgage platform that is disrupting the U.S. mortgage lending marketplace by providing cash offers for everyone. Founded in 2019 by Tim Herman and Louis Wilson while they were attending Harvard Business School, UpEquity was created out of a passion to solve the broken home buying process. UpEquity empowers customers to close offers fast by leveraging its proprietary combination of free cash offers, automated underwriting and low mortgage rates. Even first-time homebuyers receive access to the best houses on the market, in turn democratizing the American Dream. We are headquartered in Austin and have locations around the country. Visit us at upequity.com.

About Next Coast Ventures

Next Coast Ventures is an Austin venture capital firm that partners with bold entrepreneurs building innovative companies in big markets. It provides early-stage capital to high-growth startups in ‘Next Coast’ markets, using macro trends and themes to guide its investment strategy. Next Coast provides its growing group of portfolio companies hands-on, company building resources through its strong industry network, Entrepreneurs Council program and the founders’ own experiences as entrepreneurs. Learn more at https://www.nextcoastventures.com/.

Contacts

Treble
Sarah Frankoff
upequity@treblepr.com