Better.com

Better.com, operating as Better Home & Finance Holding Company since its 2023 listing, is a New York-based financial technology company that originates, processes, underwrites and closes home mortgages through an online platform. Vishal Garg founded it in February 2014 after he and his wife lost a home purchase to an all-cash buyer during a slow mortgage process. To obtain licenses and infrastructure he acquired the California lender Avex Funding, and Better Mortgage launched to consumers in January 2016. The company later added UK lending, and since listing has positioned its AI loan origination system, Tinman, as a platform for other lenders.

Better's Series C was raised in stages during 2019: $70 million in January, $25 million in spring add-ons, and a final close in August 2019 led by Activant Capital, for $160 million in total. Ping An Insurance, Ally Financial, Citigroup, AGNC, American Express Ventures and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan joined existing investors Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins and Pine Brook. That brought total funding to $254 million at a valuation above $600 million. In November 2020 L Catterton led a $200 million Series D at a $4 billion valuation. In April 2021 SoftBank invested $500 million at about $6 billion, largely by buying shares from existing investors, as Better reported $25 billion of loans and $800 million of revenue for 2020.

In May 2021 Better agreed to go public through a merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp., a SPAC sponsored by Novator Capital, in a deal that valued it at $7.7 billion. The merger did not close until August 2023, after mortgage rates rose sharply, the company cut headcount from about 11,000 to roughly 950, and the December 2021 layoff of 900 staff by video call drew criticism. The merger supplied about $565 million of capital, mostly a $528 million SoftBank convertible note. The stock began trading on Nasdaq as BETR on 24 August 2023 and closed down 93 percent at $1.15. In 2025 Better restructured about $534 million of SoftBank-held convertible principal, and in August 2026 Daniel Lewis replaced Garg as CEO.

For venture investors, Better shows how quickly a rate-sensitive lender's valuation can reset. Growth-stage backers such as Activant, L Catterton and SoftBank entered between 2019 and 2021 at valuations of $600 million to $6 billion, during a refinancing boom. The SPAC route took over two years to close, and 95 percent of Aurora shareholders redeemed before listing, so most late-stage holders reached public markets far below their entry price.