Visio Financial Services (www.visiolending.com), one of the leading residential real estate marketplace lenders in the U.S., today announced it has raised $6.7 million in a Series B round of funding. To date, the company has raised more than $100 million in debt and equity capital to provide real estate loans to investors in 34 states.
'With this latest funding round, we are advancing our technology platform and increasing the number of short- and long-term loan options available to residential real estate investors building small businesses,' said Visio CEO Jeff Ball. 'Our platform stands to benefit from the progression of marketplace lending into the mainstream, with real estate in particular being a popular vertical. Our goal is to quickly and efficiently connect investors with capital providers by offering loan products tailored to real estate investors' needs.'
Since the company's founding in 2011, Visio has grown to become one of the largest lenders of its kind, funding more than 2,600 residential real estate loans to investors. As the founders of Inc. 500 award-winner Econohomes, a seller of sub-$100,000 investment properties across the country, Visio's leadership saw the gap in the mortgage market for residential real estate investors and created a solution to meet their needs. Global investment in financial technology companies tripled from under $930 million in 2008 to nearly $3 billion in 2013, according to consulting firm Accenture.
'I see opportunity in non-bank lending for a number of reasons, primarily because traditional lenders are facing more stringent regulations, which has resulted in being very conservative in their lending practices,' said Andre Kovensky, president of Octavia Investments, who participated in the Series B funding round and sits on Visio's board of directors. 'Visio has the potential to become the leading technology platform for residential real estate loans in the country by connecting lenders and real estate investors online.'
Through Visio, traditionally underserved investor populations now have access to financing, enabling many to rehabilitate affordable rental properties while increasing their overall income potential. Approximately 40 percent of the company's borrowers are from minority populations, and nearly a quarter are female.
'Since we judge the value of the underlying asset at least as much as the background of the borrowers during the underwriting process, we have been able to serve investors who may be ineligible for traditional loans, all without experiencing any net losses,' added Ball.
The company, a key provider of market intelligence for the residential real estate industry, also announced that its annual survey of hundreds of investors in this market will be released in the second quarter of this year.