Vancouver-based FinTech startup Lendesk has acquired Calgary-based Finmo Financial Technologies, which offers a mortgage origination platform. The purchase price of the deal was not disclosed.
“With this acquisition, we have extended that experience beyond brokers and lenders, to improve the experience of their clients.”
– Alex Conconi, CEO of Lendesk
Greg Williamson, president and co-founder of Finmo, will now serve as the chief revenue officer of Lendesk. Carter Zimmerman, CEO of Finmo, is now the chief product officer for Lendesk. All other Finmo team members have also joined the Lendesk team.
Later this fall, Finmo’s technology will be integrated into Lendesk’s platform. The combined technologies from Finmo and Lendesk are aimed to allow brokers to use the suite of products to complete the entire mortgage process securely and digitally.
“At Lendesk, we have been very focused on the experience of brokers and lenders – constantly finding new ways they can work together more efficiently to achieve their common goal of a streamlined mortgage process,” said Alex Conconi, founder and CEO of Lendesk. “Now, with this acquisition, we have extended that experience beyond brokers and lenders, to improve the experience of their clients: homebuyers and homeowners.”
The deal comes more than a year after Lendesk itself was acquired by Rock Holdings, the parent company of US-based Quicken Loans. Following that deal, Lendesk has continued to operate independently from its Vancouver headquarters, under Conconi’s leadership.
Lendesk’s network connects mortgage brokers with Canadian lenders. The platform was designed to serve as the single point of contact for brokers to submit, and lenders to approve mortgage applications.
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Lendesk launched its direct-to-lender mortgage application network in October 2018, with the goal of creating a more streamlined mortgage origination process. Some of its partner companies included Scotiabank, First National Financial, CMLS Financial, Equitable Bank, and Paradigm Quest.
Finmo helps mortgage professionals offer their clients a digital experience. Finmo’s Smart Docs algorithms allow brokers to request necessary documents from their clients. The platform converts client uploads to PDFs to make the materials easier for brokers and lenders to view and manage.
Following the integration of Finmo with Lendesk, brokers will be able to share Finmo application links with clients, use the Lender Spotlight to search and qualify specific products, digitally collect documents, and submit applications directly to lenders using the Lendesk Lender Network.
“When considering who would be the best partner for Finmo, Lendesk was the obvious choice,” said Williamson. “The leadership has an intense drive to improve the broker-lender relationship, just as we have been focused on helping brokers better assist their clients.”
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Tierra Mallorca.