Button Finance says it will use its latest round of funding to further develop its proprietary technology. Hildene Capital Management LLC participated in the seed funding round.
Button Finance's technology is focused on giving homeowners the ability to borrow against their home equity through an online process that according to the company, delivers quick decisions and funding in as little as five days.
The company states that its AI-powered underwriting platform gives it the ability to lend to borrowers who are under-served by traditional lenders. While Button's immediate focus is on home equity loans, the company plans to expand into a broader range of loan products over the next 24 months.
“This last year has been challenging for everyone; however, American homeowners now have more untapped equity than ever before, given the recent home price rally,” said Jason Harris, CEO of Button Finance.
Hildene was joined by L&L Capital Partners and angel investors from the NY fintech ecosystem.
“The traditional players in the mortgage industry have been slow to adopt new technology and innovative underwriting. The Button Finance team spotted a gap in the market, and they built a robust underwriting model to address it, leading to higher risk-adjusted yields,” said Dushyant Mehra, a co-chief investment officer of Hildene Capital Management.
Concurrent with this capital raise, the company announced the hire of Josh Hager to oversee mortgage operations. Hager has more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including department head roles at numerous fintech mortgage originators, including Better.com, Homeward, and Divvy Homes.
