Molo raises £266m to expand digital mortgage lending

The capital raise comes after a first tranche of £10m for the Series A round that closed in January 2020.

Molo raises £266m to expand digital mortgage lending

Digital mortgage lender Molo has raised a further £266m in debt and equity funding, completing its Series A equity funding round.

 

The investment was led by global financial services firm Macquarie Group and Patron Capital, a pan-European institutional investor focused on property-backed investments.

The equity round was led by Yabeo, an international venture capital firm and supported by existing shareholders Andenes Investments, GPS Ventures and others. SpecFin Capital advised Molo.

The capital raise comes after a first tranche of £10m for the Series A round that closed in January 2020.

The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s growth through additional online lending and investment in its proprietary technology and new product propositions.

Molo has experienced significantly higher volumes of online mortgage applications post-COVID, which it has suggested points to the growing popularity of digital lending and the convenience of its digital model.

In August and September alone, Molo’s pipeline of buy-to-let mortgage applications exceeded £500m.

Francesca Carlesi, CEO and co-founder of Molo, said: “Molo has reimagined the whole mortgage experience from scratch; we are applying the convenience and speed of today’s technology for today’s customers.

"Leveraging instant decisioning and real time data validation, customers can get certainty about their mortgage directly on their mobile, in minutes rather than weeks.

"This additional backing is a sign of trust in Molo, and we are proud to have reputable players like Macquarie, Patron and Yabeo on our team as we seek to revolutionize the mortgage market.”

Gerrit Seidel, MD of Yabeo, said: ‘The mortgage markets globally and particularly in the UK, are the largest financial services segments.

"Dominated still by traditional banking incumbents and brokerage set-ups, the market is ready for accelerated disruption, unlocking significant cost efficiencies and enabling consumer friendly online mortgage solutions.

"Molo is best equipped to spearhead these developments in the UK.’

Carolyn Porretta, a managing director at Macquarie Group and non-executive board director of Molo, added: “The UK mortgage market is currently undergoing an enormous transformation to digitalise and make the process of getting a mortgage decision faster and easier than ever before.

"Molo is at the forefront of this technology and we are looking forward to working with them to realise the opportunity.”