Citi has made an equity investment in Vontive, an embedded mortgage platform for investment real estate.
The Wall Street giant has also led a $150 million securitisation for Vontive, establishing the startup's securitisation shelf, marrying a traditional structure for credit investing with its technology for digitally originating, underwriting, and servicing business-purpose mortgages at scale.
Vontive's platform connects private credit investors with real estate entrepreneurs. The firm says this removes barriers for private credit to finance and, in doing so, tackles an urgent real-world problem: the more than 70 million homes that were built before 1980 now in need of renovation as the US faces a chronic shortage of affordable housing.
The startup's technology promises to apply granular knowledge of housing markets, properties, borrowers, and document requirements to streamline and improve operations. This all helps capital allocators to access complex and esoteric credit assets.
"There is unprecedented demand for private credit exposure from financial institutions but delivering it consistently and at scale requires Vontive’s sophisticated technology," says Vontive CEO Charles McKinney. "The combination of Citi’s equity investment and full suite of capital markets solutions will enable us to supercharge Vontive’s growth sustainably."