Lending Platform Blend Labs Raises $360 Million in Top-Range IPO
Michael Hytha and Katie Roof, Bloomberg News Nima Ghamsari, co-founder and chief executive officer of Blend in New York in 2018. Photographer: Alex Flynn/Bloomberg , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) Blend Labs Inc., a lending platform for financial companies, raised $360 million in an initial public offering price at the top of a marketed range.
San Francisco-based Blend sold 20 million Class A shares Thursday for $18 each, according to a statement. The company had marketed 20 million for $16 to $18.
Blend has a market value in the listing of almost $4 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings. Accounting for employee stock options, the company diluted value is closer to $5 billion.
Home mortgage firm Mr. Cooper sells title business in $500 million deal
Mr. Cooper, one of the nation’s largest home loan servicers, reported revenue of $2.7 billion in 2020, with the bulk coming from loan originations.
Coppell-based home mortgage servicer Mr. Cooper Group Inc. is selling a majority stake in its title business in a deal valued at $500 million.
The deal with Blend Labs Inc. includes $450 million in cash and allows Mr. Cooper to retain a 9.9% ownership stake in Title365, the companies announced Monday. The sale is expected to close by the end of June.
As part of the transaction, cash generated by Title365 between now and closing will go to Blend Labs. Mr. Cooper said it expects to receive $400 million from the deal upon closing.
Digital Lending Tech Provider Blend Says that Financial Institutions Should Make Fintech Lending their Identity, Not Competition
San Francisco-based
Blend, which claims to offer market-leading digital lending technology that makes the process of acquiring a loan simpler, faster, and safer, suggests that service providers should make Fintech lending their identity, and not necessarily their “competition.”
During the past few years, the digital lending landscape has “changed dramatically,” Blend reveals while noting that it is “no longer a matter of if an organization will adopt Fintech lending practices it’s a question of how far that adoption has progressed.”
Blend explains that while financial institutions across the globe are in different phases of digital transformation, Fintech challengers are “setting a brisk pace.” However, the success of Fintech lending isn’t simply about Silicon Valley technology companies and fancy apps, Blend notes. The company’