Local fintech startup Bundle recently closed a $600,000 seed round, led by four investors, two of whom are from Charlotte.
Eric Mager, Bundle co-founder, said the round closed on May 24 and included major investments from Charlotte Angel Fund and Carolina Fintech Partners, both based in Charlotte, as well as from New York City-based SuperAngel.Fund and Canda-based Allied Venture Partners.
"So many people in Charlotte's [venture capital] community have been huge advocates and have helped us from an advisory standpoint, so for them to have the confidence to invest dollars is amazing," he said. "It's a testament to how far the ecosystem here has come."
Bundle, co-founded in 2018 by Mager and Marco Burgarello, is a mortgage platform that allows homebuyers to learn about the home buying process, create a budget, connect with mortgage lenders, compare rates and get answers to any questions they may have.
In September, Bundle raised a $250,000 seed round from Charlotte Angel Fund that Mager said was used to continue building out its platform.
Mager said the company is planning to utilize the new funds to do several things. He said they will hire their third and fourth team members who will work on platform development. Bundle will also move toward two new key products.
In the coming weeks, it will roll out a live shopping model that will connect home buyers to lenders in real time.
"We're doubling down on the success we've seen in the last year with the lenders who have sat on Bundle all day long," Mager said. "We realized people want to have live interactions. Our big differentiator is that you're anonymous through the process as we connect you in real time with lenders."
Once the real-time model is in place, he said they'll begin to work on launching a completely new aspect of the platform in which financial-based companies can embed Bundle's mortgage platform into their own software or applications. Mager described it as "Mortgage as a Service".
"We've created an embedded experience that can work within any fintech application that wants to protect their consumer privacy and offer mortgage options," Mager said. "They can drop a few lines of code into their app and give consumers the same experience they would have while using Bundle."
"It completely opens up our universe for potential home buyers who may use other financial tools and apply," he added. "We'll be able to go directly to where people are already finding their financial advice."
