SAN FRANCISCO,

Sept. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lenda, the most technologically advanced platform that allows homeowners to refinance or originate mortgages completely online, today announced the closing of a

$5.25M

Series A financing led by SF Capital Group. Additional investors in the round include CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund and inside investor, Rubicon Venture Capital. The company will use the new funding to fill key management positions, expand its reach to more states and increase its investment in the company's innovative software platform. Lenda's platform, built from the ground up, educates its users throughout the entire process and has licensed representatives available for homeowners to get their questions answered by live chat, email or phone. Lenda's customers have collectively saved over

$750,000

in fees and over

$5M

in interest over the lives of their loans.
"Our mission at Lenda is to fix the broken mortgage finance system by simplifying the entire process and providing customers with what they want – honesty, simplicity and speed," said Jason van den Brand, Lenda's Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Where middlemen like banks and brokers fail, we succeed." van den Brand continued, "This new round of funding enables us to further build out our management team and expand our transformative service to more people in more states." Lenda closes loans nearly 3.5-times faster than the industry average, which means loans can be completed in a quick 17 days versus the typical two month close time. The company also saves customers money on interest rates and APR compared to the mortgage interest and fees from banks and mortgage brokers. Overall, Lenda customers save approximately $409 a month in loan repayments. "With their disciplined focus on automation, Jason and his team are bringing the traditional mortgage process into the 21st century, for both new origination and refinancing," said Neil Wolfson, President, SF Capital Group. "Unlike many digital mortgage companies that are mainly sales organizations with outsourced middle and back offices, Lenda demonstrates true innovation by using technology to achieve scale." Lenda launched in 2013 with a refinance product and currently services customers in California, Washington and Oregon. The company now also provides new origination mortgages and plans to expand its platform to additional states in 2017.