Australian fintech Tic:Toc, the world’s only fully digital home loan platform, today announced it has closed its Series B round, raising $11.5M in funding.
The Series B funding, led by Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited (Genworth Australia) and Blackstone group entity La Trobe Financial, includes both new and existing investors and adds significant depth to the Tic:Toc share register, which also includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
The funding will allow Tic:Toc to further advance the capability of its platform as well as build greater brand awareness. It will also partially fund Tic:Toc ’s pending expansion into offering its automated assessment platform as a service to partners, as well as exploration of select international markets.
Tic:Toc founder and CEO, Anthony Baum, said the successful funding round was a key step forward for the business as it enters a new phase of growth.
“Tic:Toc has seen an overwhelmingly positive response since we launched in July last year. We’re thrilled to have closed a second successful funding round after our initial capital raise in May 2017, and bring on such high calibre institutional shareholders.
“The funds will support the organic growth we are experiencing, but also allow us to further invest in our business for strategic growth.
“We want to relentlessly pursue and embrace new technologies to ensure Tic:Toc remains the radical and smarter way to secure home finance, and this funding allows us to do that” said Baum.
Genworth Australia CEO & Managing Director, Georgette Nicholas said, “We are excited to be part of the Tic:Toc venture which aligns with us looking for innovative ways to provide lenders mortgage insurance.”
Blackstone Portfolio Company La Trobe Financial President and CEO, Greg O’Neill, stated “We’re thrilled to support Tic:Toc as they define a new category in home finance – automated home loan assessment and approval.
“At a time when lending is under scrutiny for outdated practices, Tic:Toc’s unique approach to home finance will benefit the market significantly and is deployable and scalable. We look forward to partnering with Tic:Toc on a range of opportunities.”
Genworth Australia is an ASX listed company and is the leading provider of lenders mortgage insurance in Australia.
La Trobe Financial is part of US investment giant US$450 billion Blackstone Group L.P. based out of New York.
Baum said the Series B funding was also an opportunity to continue to deliver on its promise to customers: “We firmly believe in providing our customers a faster, simpler and more transparent way to get a home loan, and to a larger extent, redefining the home finance landscape on a world stage,” said Baum.
Since its launch, Tic:Toc has amassed a loan portfolio of more than $170 million and received over $1.2 billion in value of submitted home loan applications. It has also grown its team substantially to nearly 50 people, and with new partner and growth opportunities, is looking to grow its team to 200 people by 2020.
The home loans originated by Tic:Toc and backed by Australia’s fifth largest retail bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, are available throughout Australia at tictochomeloans.com; with variable comparison rates from 3.65% for live-in, principal and interest home loans
