Habito

This comprehensive app utilises an AI chatbot and dedicated mortgage experts to assess your current mortgage and find you the best possible deal. The company states that whereas a traditional mortgage broker, on average, reviews roughly 11-12 lenders over the course of 2-3 weeks, Habito is capable of analysing 15,000 products across 100 lenders in a matter of seconds.

Founded in 2015 and based in London, UK, Habito offers customers free and impartial advice, and can even negotiate real time agreements with providers. The applicant is also made aware of how much Habito is making from their application, giving greater transparency to a previously complex process.

Over the past 3 years, Daniel Hegarty (Founder & CEO) and his team have raised $32.9M across four rounds of funding, with Fintech founders Samir Desai (Funding Circle), Taavet Hinrikus (Transferwise) and Paul Forster (indeed.com) all holding shares in the company.

In 2018, the company announced it had partnered with AIG Life to bring insurance into the mortgage purchasing process. The following year, Habito announced that it would begin direct lending via its own range of mortgages. Starting with ‘buy to let’ mortgages, the move represents the first time the fintech startup has expanded beyond brokerage after it received regulatory approval to become a mortgage lender in its own right early last year.

In April 2020 Habito announced it had reached £4bn in mortgage submissions.

Two years after Habito partnered with AIG life, the partnership became inactive, and Habito ceased to offer an insurance product.