Philadelphia-based private equity firm LLR Partners announced Tuesday its investment in Sales Boomerang and Mortgage Coach, two fintechs focused on attracting and retaining mortgage borrowers and making loan originators more efficient. Both firms will maintain their existing brands and teams.
The investment comes at a pivotal time for the mortgage industry, which has seen record refi volume give way to a market dominated by purchase loans. LLR Partners, which led a $26.5 million investment in eOriginal in 2016, said both companies offer solutions that make a difference for lenders facing stiff competition and low margins in a purchase environment.
“What stood out to us with both of these companies was their really exciting growth and the really positive feedback from across the market. Lenders across the board felt that they got truly high ROI from these solutions,” said Sam Ryder, principal at LLR Partners.
Sales Boomerang provides automated borrower intelligence, delivering real-time customer insights to lenders, who can then offer “the right loan to borrowers at the right time,” according to CEO Alex Kutsishin. This is especially important in the current environment, Kutsishin said, where borrowers need fast, flexible solutions as rates are rising.
Mortgage Coach provides an interactive borrower education platform that lets loan officers walk borrowers through a visual presentation of their loan options so that the LO becomes a trusted advisor, Co-founder and CEO Dave Savage said.
“Mortgage professionals are really well-positioned to be the captains of a consumer’s wealth team,” Savage said. “There should be a relationship beyond the transaction. This vision is a big part of why we wanted to put gas on the fire with this investment.”
The two companies’ technology solutions are already tightly integrated and the relationship between their executives was a bonus to LLR Partners, Ryder said.
“The management teams already had a good relationship, they have similar visions for this space, and the existing product integrations — all those things taken together made this a great opportunity to invest in both businesses,” Ryder said.
The go-forward initiatives cited by LLR Partners Include “support for a wider range of financial products and lending institutions,” and the three executives HousingWire interviewed noted that their strategy reaches beyond just mortgage. Kutsishin said the expanded products could include everything from adjustable rate mortgages to reverse loans, but also products such as credit cards, auto loans and personal loans.
“We are building and already know we can deliver the best wallet share acceleration program for banks and credit unions, using the same strategies we’ve done in mortgage,” Kutsishin said.
