Mortgage Master raises S$522,500 in oversubscribed seed round

MORTGAGE brokering platform Mortgage Master has raised S$522,500 in an oversubscribed seed round, exceeding its initial target of S$400,000, the Singapore-based startup said on Tuesday.

Investors include Bala Swaminathan, who is the founder of fund management firm S Cube Capital and the former head of Asia at Australian bank Westpac, as well as Andy Lim, chairman of private equity firm Tembusu Partners.

The investment was made through FundedHere, an equity and lending-based crowdfunding platform approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The fresh capital will be used to build deep technology capabilities to scale Mortgage Master's platform, increase headcount and enter new markets, said the startup's co-founder and chief executive officer David Baey.

Mortgage Master is a "neutral party" providing homeowners with unbiased personalised advice as well as a faster and more affordable mortgage process, said Mr Swaminathan, who was the lead investor in the seed round.

The startup offers access to a variety of home loan packages in Singapore offered by different lenders. It does not charge customers a fee; instead, banks pay Mortgage Master a fixed fee for referrals for new home loans and refinancing cases.

Founded in 2018, the firm serves more than 2,500 individual cases in Singapore each year, and has transacted more than S$500 million in home loans.

"A homeowner typically conducts 10 hours of research, assesses 15 banks - with each touting the 'best' offering, and then spends two hours on paperwork, but often still ends up with buyer's remorse," Mr Baey said.

The startup aims to eliminate inefficiencies in the mortgage process and ensure it is in homeowners' best interests while also benefitting banks.