Layoffs, a team-up, CTO hire and more
This week, mortgage fintech Reali disclosed plans to shut down and start laying off most of its workforce. Polly, a provider of SaaS technology for the mortgage capital markets space, extended its API portfolio to better accommodate lenders. Clever Real Estate is teaming up with Total Expert to streamline communication among mortgage lenders, real estate agents and their clients. Blend Labs, a provider of cloud-based banking software, launched a new automated digital home equity product for lenders. SWBC Mortgage Corp. hired a new chief technology officer. Truist Financial Corp. snatched up key strategic assets from a data technology company.
Reali
Mortgage fintech Reali plans to shut down and start laying off most of its workforce on September 8, the California-based fintech company disclosed.
The company blamed “challenging real estate and financial conditions” and an “unfavorable capital-raising environment” for the move.
Reali is a combined mortgage lender, real estate brokerage and escrow and title operation founded in 2016.
Read more: Mortgage tech news roundup: August 19
Reali’s plans to shut down follow disclosure earlier this year that the company was going to grow outside of California as part of a national expansion.
“By the end of this year we’ll have the foundation laid for expansion into other states,” Jason van den Brand, Reali’s chief lending officer, told Insurance Business America at the time.
The company said it is in talks with companies that may buy specific parts of its business.
Polly
Polly, a provider of SaaS technology for the mortgage capital markets space, has extended its API portfolio to better accommodate lenders.
The company’s platform is designed to automate workflows to help clients maximize their revenue. It’s driven in part by a rules-configuration engine, and deep analytics that boost transparency and help clients make decisions in real time.
Polly’s client base includes independent mortgage companies, banks, credit unions or related software providers.
Polly’s focus on beefing up its existing API portfolio is part of a long-term strategy, the company said.
“As we continue to experience rapid growth and adoption, we have received requests from lenders and many … mortgage technology providers to further extend our API portfolio. So, that is exactly what we have done,” Adam Carmel, founder and CEO of Polly, said in prepared remarks.
Clever Real Estate
Clever Real Estate is teaming up with Total Expert to streamline communication among mortgage lenders real estate agents and their clients.
Clever Real Estate, launched in 2017, matches sellers and buyers with vetted local real estate agents, simultaneously providing a lower rate for the client and leads for the agent. Total Expert’s platform unifies data, marketing sales and compliance products/services to provide a cohesive experience throughout the customer lifecycle.
Total Expert will help enhance Clever Real Estate’s services by letting lenders receive updates in real time about their borrowers, maintain fluid communications between agents and lenders, and help consumers reach their homeownership goals.
“We are thrilled this new integration will ensure that Clever customers will enjoy an even more streamlined process and eliminate some of the stress of communicating with multiple parties that typically comes with real estate transactions,” Tony Chahal, SVP of partnerships at Clever, said in prepared remarks.
Blend
Blend Labs, a provider of cloud-based banking software, launched a new automated digital home equity product for lenders.
Blend Instant Home Equity integrates income and identity verification, title, decisioning, property appraisal and notarization to save time and money. Lenders using the product can give borrowers a personalized offer that can be instantly approved and then closed in just a few days.
It also integrates a number of new improvements to the company’s mortgage product line, including Blend Income Verification and Blend’s remote online notarization platform.
The company disclosed earlier in August that it has eliminated 400 jobs since April, representing 25% of its workforce, as it continues to lose money and struggle in the face of rising mortgage ratees.
SWBC Mortgage
SWBC Mortgage Corp. hired Paul Gorske as its new chief technology officer.
He’ll be tasked with developing a technology strategy and roadmap for the company. Along those lines, Gorske will focus on improving the technology and end-to-end experience for SWBC Mortgage employees by prioritizing scalability and automation.
Read next: Mortgage tech news roundup: August 12
Most recently, Gorske served as vice president of IT Global Shared Services for Ryan LLC, an organization that provides an integrated roster of federal, state, local and international tax services. He has also worked stints in the mortgage industry at companies including PrimeLending, Pacific Union Financial, Saxton and Nationstar.
Truist
Truist Financial Corp. is acquiring key strategic assets from Zaloni, a data technology company.
Specifically, Truist is buying the Zaloni Arena platform to quicken its data governance, metadata management, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence/machine learning programs.
The bank offers a number of financial services in areas including commercial real estate, insurance, mortgage, specialized lending, corporate and institutional banking and asset management.
