Following the close of its recent £35 million Series C investment round, leading digital mortgage and home-buying company Habito has secured additional backing from Bootstrap Europe, a rising, technology growth debt fund that works with disruptive scale-ups making an impact.
Backed by the British Business Investments, Bootstrap Europe recognised the potential in Habito’s plans to shape its vision to transform the UK’s £1.3trillion mortgage market.
Since its launch in 2016, Habito has delivered free, whole-of-market regulated advice through its digital brokerage to more than 350,000 customers, resulting in mortgage submissions worth over £5 billion. Habito is the UK’s Best Mortgage Broker as voted for by the public* and is the top-rated mortgage company on Trustpilot. Habito became a lender in 2019 with its inaugural range of buy-to-let mortgages and in 2020 launched a home-buying service called Habito Plus which brings together conveyancing, property searches and mortgage under one roof. In 2021, it plans to expand into residential mortgages in the UK.
Stephanie Heller of Bootstrap Europe stated: “We’re very excited to be joining Dan and his team on Habito’s journey. They’ve shown great resilience throughout what has been a rough time for many businesses in the property market. By working hard to understand their customer base, and dedicating themselves to working on a solid product-market fit, Habito has leapt forward”.
The technology growth debt industry, normally a well-kept secret, is proving its prowess by backing scale-ups impacting the world and leaving a meaningful impression within each business’s respective industry. The Bootstrap portfolio already funds many well-known European scale-ups including the likes of Farmdrop, TransferGo, Scandit and Blueprint Genetics.
Daniel Hegarty, Founder and CEO of Habito, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Bootstrap team as a venture partner. In an uneven market where uncertainty continues to prevail, this additional funding will allow us to confidently boost our ambitious growth targets and continue to deliver ground-breaking and innovative digital experiences and products to our customers.”
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For more information about this news, please contact Lisa Leid [email protected].
About Bootstrap Europe
Bootstrap Europe supports thriving industries across the globe, from green energy and genetic testing to SaaS, fintech and smarter city solutions; the team’s collective experience has ensured that the fund includes some of Europe’s fastest, socially-focused scale-up businesses.
To find out more about how Bootstrap Europe helps scale-up businesses, you can visit their website here and blog here.
About Habito
Habito is an award-winning home-buying and financing company on a mission to make mortgages easier and to transform the UK’s £1.3tn mortgage market by taking the hell — stress, jargon and unnecessary cost — out of financing a home.
Since launching in April 2016, Habito has:
- Helped more than 350,000 people better understand their mortgage needs.
- Submitted more than £5 billion worth of mortgages.
- Launched its own range of buy-to-let mortgages in July 2019 available through its brokerage, and via selected external broker partners.
- Launched Habito Plus a groundbreaking homebuying service which brings a buyer’s mortgage application, conveying needs and survey under one roof in January 2020.
- Built an award-winning service — *British Bank Awards 2020 — Best Mortgage Broker; MoneyNet Awards — Best Online Mortgage Broker 2019 & 2020.
- Created a service customers love: it is the top-rated mortgage company on Trustpilot, with more than 5,400 reviews (91% at 5*).
- Achieved B Corp certified status and took its place among a global movement of companies using business as a force for good and puts social and environmental responsibility on the same level as profit.
- Raised more than £63 million in equity from some of the biggest names in Venture Capital — Augmentum Fintech, Atomico, Mosaic Ventures, Ribbit Capital and SBI Group.
