Nashville-based construction financing company Built has raised a $21 million Series A round, led by global venture capital firm Index Ventures with participation from Nyca Partners and others. After three years of growth, this investment bring the startup’s total funding raised to $25 million.
“We will continue to focus on our current software offerings in the construction lending sector, which is currently being used by financial institutions and other lenders to manage more than $6.5 billion in loans from coast to coast,” CEO Chase Gilbert tells Hypepotamus. “We will additionally use the funds to double in size by the end of 2018.”
Construction loans often need to be coordinated through many parties — lending staff, borrowers, builders, contractors, draw inspection vendors, architects, title companies, and more. Their communication can live across emails, phone calls, and un-synced spreadsheets.
Built’s software streamlines the collateral monitoring and draw process associated with those loans — a process widely recognized as ineffective and costly due to the fragmentation of the industry.
“The lifeblood of the entire $1.2 trillion U.S. construction industry and impacts everything from housing and commercial real estate availability and affordability to job growth and GDP,” writes Gilbert in a blog post. “By using technology, we can help lenders reduce risk through data driven decisions, money can move faster into the communities we live in, and we can provide greater transparency to everyone involved through a convenient, digital experience.”
With the startup’s growing presence, Gilbert was able to catch the attention of San Francisco-based Index Ventures.
“Investor Mark Goldberg [from Index Ventures] enthusiastically expressed his interest in our mission, and even flew to Nashville to meet us,” says Gilbert. “We felt that he really understood our mission, and it was a perfect fit. We have so much gratitude for this investment, and we’re elated to have Mark on our board.”
The funding will accelerate product development and help the team develop important partnerships with other lending technology providers, according to company executives.
“With the new capital, we plan to accelerate innovation across both residential and commercial construction lending, as well as invest heavily in data utilization,” said Gilbert in a statement.
Gilbert shares that Built is bringing construction financing into the 21st century — changing the way the world gets built.
“By digitizing the process, lenders can now use data to make more informed decisions on their loans and simultaneously provide their borrowers a convenient, digital experience with faster access to money to push projects forward,” he says.
The platform gives lenders and all related stakeholders real-time transparency on their loans and processes the draw requests faster, as release of money often needs approval from various parties and can delay the project.
“Built is poised to completely transform construction lending,” said Mark Goldberg, Investor at Index Ventures, in a statement. “This is a massive industry that has been bogged down by cumbersome, penand-paper-based processes. With their software platform, Built is making construction lending faster and safer.”
Since its inception in 2014, Built has managed upwards of $6.5 billion of construction loan volume. In the last year, it has more than tripled its customer base and doubled to more than 30 people.
