Loans Made Easy
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An official statement Tuesday revealed the management’s intention to take the company public, at a time when the IPO market is witnessing hectic activity. The stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLND in the coming months. It will be offering approximately 20 million common shares for $16-18 per share. The offering is expected to generate proceeds of up to $360 million and value the company at $4 billion. The book runners will be led by Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Securities.
Boom Time
Last year, the tech firm increased its employee count to 560 — deployed in the San Francisco and New York offices. Its lending partners include industry leaders like Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) and U.S. Bank. The company had 291 customers at the end of 2020, which includes some of the leading financial service providers, asset managers, and non-bank mortgage lenders. Full-year revenues jumped about 90% year-over-year to $96 million. Consequently, net loss narrowed to $74.6 million from $81.5 million in fiscal 2019.
The company is set to foray into the other segments of retail banking by expanding its modular software platform to areas like creation/deployment of new product offerings. The expansion program assumes significance considering the technological innovation that is setting a new paradigm for the banking industry.
New-gen Banking
The company is positioning itself for next-generation banking, betting on the scope for future-proof software architecture needed for delivering personalized consumer experience across all businesses. The mobile-first strategy helps Blend attract customers, especially youngsters and professionals, by reducing loan origination costs and saving time. Total spending on software in the banking industry was $72.4 billion in 2020, which is expected to grow about13% through 2025.
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As part of enhancing its software portfolio, Blend acquired title insurance agency Title365 last month, which offers solutions to financial services firms for automating title commitments and streamlining communication with consumers and settlement teams.
Broad-based Growth
Blend Labs was founded in 2012 by Eugene Marinelli, Erin Collard, and Nima Ghamsari, who has served as its chief executive officer since then. It is estimated to have facilitated $1.4 trillion in consumer loans and mortgage lending in 2020 while expanding the digital customer platform significantly. In January, the company raised around $300 million in a stock offering and hit a valuation of $3.3 billion, after raising $75 million a few months ago.