Digital lending platform startup Blend to go public at a $4 billion valuation

It’s a day after the July 4th holiday, and that means the market is open, and Wall Street is more than busy with onslaughts of new IPOs. One of the new IPOs we’ve been watching for over two years is Blend Labs, a  digital mortgage lending startup we wrote about back in 2019.

Now, the time has finally come. Blend had filed confidentially for its listing in April when it was last valued at $3.3 billion after a funding round in January. In its amended filing today, Blend is seeking a $4 billion valuation in the U.S. initial public offering (IPO) by selling 20 million shares priced between $16 and $18 each to raise up to $360 million.

Founded in 2012 by Erin Collard, Eugene Marinelli, Nima Ghamsari, Rosco Hill, Blend makes the process of getting a loan simpler, faster, and safer. With its digital lending platform, Blend helps financial institutions including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank increase productivity and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

The company regularly processes nearly $2 billion in mortgages and consumer loans daily, helping millions of consumers get into homes and gain access to the capital they need to lead better lives. Blend is backed by Greylock Partners, Emergence Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nyca, Max Levchin, and other leading venture investors.

Blend, which provides a cloud-based software platform to digitizes banking, makes it more convenient for customers to borrow money or deposit cash. Since its inception nine years ago, Blend has raised a total of $665M in funding over 9 rounds. Its latest funding was raised on Jan 13, 2021, from a Series G round.