Mortgage disrupter sets new funding record
Mortgage disrupter Athena Home Loans has set a local record, closing the largest capital raise ever led by local venture funds, raising $70 million to fund its expansion into home loans.
Since being founded by former NAB bankers Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey less than a year ago, Athena has focused on the refinancing market, and has already written more than $500 million worth of loans.
The fresh capital will help it start offering loans for property purchases, which is a substantially bigger market.
Leading the fintech’s Series C round were existing investors Square Peg Capital, AirTree Ventures and Hostplus. For the first time, AustralianSuper also came on board as an investor, making it its first early stage start-up investment.
Other investors to join the round included Salesforce Ventures and NAB Ventures.
Athena co-founder and chief executive Nathan Walsh told The Australian Financial Review it already had a waiting list of people wanting to take out a new home loan.
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