Will this Start-up Become the Amazon of the Credit Space? Better.com is a 360-degree digital mortgage company that recently raised $160 million in funding
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Better.com is a digital mortgage company headquartered in the US and the start-up recently raised $160 million in funding.
Entrepreneur India caught up with Bhavesh Sharma, Better.com's general manager in India. Sharma, who joined Better.com in 2017, has previously worked with JP Morgan and Indian food delivery firm Zomato.
The company's India team is involved in business operations, data analytics and finance functions.
Changing the Face of Home Buying
Applying for a home loan involves filling up a large stack of papers.
"Why can't a person come online at their convenience and apply for a loan? And why can't the whole process be completely transparent and non-threatening?" questioned Sharma.
As the world becomes increasingly digitized, individuals avoid the hassle that comes with the cumbersome nature of applying for a home loan.
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Operations in India
The company's Indian office started with 48 people and has quickly grown to 400.
"We have grown 8 times in the last 14-15 months. We would be crossing 525 (people) in the next month...it's been a year of hyper growth as far as the Indian organization goes," says Sharma.
Customer Is King
A practice that Better.com gives the highest importance to is easing out and clarifying the queries of customers to make the system "uncomfortably transparent'.
Sharma says, "There's a lot of interaction with the consumer, if there is any clarification of anything required. It is a very easy process and a lot of consumers are very happy to just reply back on the email, phone or any other mode."
Sharma says that to make anything transparent externally, one has to ensure the same internally, "There are no corner offices. I'll be transparent to my consumer but for that I have to start at home and work first."
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The Amazon of Credit
Better.com, which raised funding in August, has some illustrious names on the list of its investors including the likes of Goldman Sachs, American Express and Kleiner Perkins.
The latest funds will be utilized in India, especially for hiring, according to Sharma.
Sharma also shared certain plans that he has outlined for the company, "The Indian center is a very important and critical part of the overall organization. And we see it growing rapidly. We are (a) B2C business, but we are now going into the B2B space."
He added that a couple of large partnerships were underway and apart from home loans and mortgages, they are also planning to introduce other offerings in the home ownership ecosystem.
"The ultimate goal, as the CEO asks, can you become the Amazon of credit?"
