The Briefing

Better.com’s Valuation Hopes Reflect Fintech Boom: The Information’s Tech Briefing

Rocket Companies' signage on the headquarters of its Quicken Loans building in Detroit the day Rocket went public last month. Photo by Bloomberg
By
Martin Peers

There’s something of a boom going on in finance tech startups, you may have noticed. Our scoop today about Better.com, the online mortgage lender, looking to raise money at a valuation of $4 billion—several times where it was last valued—highlights the trend. 

In the past week other startups in the consumer finance market—Affirm, Chime and Robinhood—have each raised hundreds of millions of dollars. In the case of Chime, it did so at a valuation of $14.5 billion, according to CNBC, up from $1.5 billion 18 months ago.