REUTERS: Blend Labs Inc, a mortgage lending-focused digital banking platform, is aiming for a valuation of roughly $4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, hoping to cash in on the surge in demand for online financial services. Blend said in an amended filing on Tuesday that it plans to offer 20 million shares at a price range of US$16 to US$18 each to fund up to US$360 million.
After a financing round in January, the business, which had filed confidentially for its IPO in April, was valued at US$3.3 billion.
Blend’s cloud-based software platform digitizes banking, making borrowing money and depositing cash more accessible for users.
Every day, the platform of the San Francisco-based corporation processes more than $5 billion in transactions. Last year, it had 291 customers, including Wells Fargo & Co and Lennar Mortgage. The filing comes after the busiest week of the year for initial public offerings in the United States, which saw more than a dozen businesses go public.
Didi Global Inc, a Chinese ride-hailing company, debuted last week, while Robinhood Markets Inc, an online brokerage, filed for an IPO last week.
Mortgage insurance demand has increased as a result of the low interest rates brought on by the epidemic last year. According to the petition, higher loan rates could affect demand for Blend’s platform. Nima Ghamsari, the company’s current CEO and a former employee of analytics firm Palantir Technologies Inc., co-founded Blend in 2012. Following the transaction, Ghamsari will hold 68 percent of the voting power, according to the business. The startup’s president is Timothy Mayopoulos, a former chief executive officer of mortgage finance company Fannie Mae.
The IPO’s primary underwriters are Goldman Sachs & Co, Allen & Company, and Wells Fargo Securities. Blend will trade under the symbol “BLND” on the New York Stock Exchange. (Bengaluru-based reporter Niket Nishant contributed to this report; Vinay Dwivedi edited it.)/n
