Spruce, a new startup looking to speed up the mortgage-closing process, has raised $4.5 million in its Series A financing from Bessemer Venture Partners, Omidyar Network and Third Prime Capital, along with a slew of private angel investors.
Founded by two former employees of the robo-advisory wealth management company Betterment, the new startup is notable for a few reasons.
First, it’s yet another startup launching to tackle the real estate market — an industry that’s been a huge target for venture dollars — and it’s also a clear sign that the ecosystem in New York is maturing.
When you have startups begetting more startups, it’s a strong indicator of the health of a particular ecosystem. The same can be said for the involvement of core group of Betterment employees that invested in Spruce’s Series A.
Betterment chief executive Jon Stein, vice president of communications and policy Joe Ziemer, vice president of operations Boris Khentov and Mike Reust, the VP of engineering, all invested in their former co-workers’ new venture.
Founded by Patrick Burns, former product manager at Betterment and Spruce’s chief executive, and Andrew Weisgall, the chief operating officer at Spruce and former head of data science at Betterment, Spruce is angling to reduce the time to close a real estate deal by improving title insurance assessment and issuance.
That arcane corner of the real estate market can take as much as 4-5 days and costs property buyers and seller up to roughly $4,000,…