Better Home & Finance to Close Business Combination With Aurora

Better HoldCo, Inc. and Aurora Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, have announced the closing of the previously announced business combination that has resulted in the creation of Better Home & Finance Holding Company, a publicly traded company with Class A common stock and will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market and the Nasdaq Capital Market.

“Since day one, we set out on a mission to create better solutions for one of life’s most important investments. Today, we’re proud to take a huge step in expanding our capacity to innovate the homeownership process by becoming a publicly listed company. While this is a time for celebration, our journey is far from complete,” said Vishal Garg, CEO & Founder of Better and CEO and Director of Better Home & Finance. “With the support of our tremendous team, our innovative technology, and previously committed additional capital from SoftBank, Aurora, and NaMa Capital (formerly Novator Capital), we are well-positioned and eager to forge ahead and continue pushing the boundaries of innovation in homeownership for our customers and shareholders.”

Since Better first announced the business combination with Aurora, the company has doubled down on technology to make itself leaner and more efficient while continuing to improve the homeownership process for its customers.

Garg, Founder of Better.com, came under fire late last year for the dismissal of nearly 900 workers via a Zoom call.

In January 2023, Better announced One-Day Mortgage, a mortgage product which allows customers to go online, get pre-approved, lock their rate, and get a binding mortgage Commitment Letter from Better Mortgage, all within 24 hours. In addition, Better has invested considerable resources into developing Tinman, its proprietary loan origination platform that serves as a focal point for improving Better’s internal efficiency and streamlining the homeownership experience for customers. The additional capital from the business combination will allow Better to continue investing in Tinman and position the company for long-term success across cycles.

“Going public is a momentous occasion, and we are thankful to share it with our employees, shareholders, and regulators,” said Harit Talwar, Chairman of the Better Home & Finance Board of Directors. “We view this as a milestone, not a destination, and an opportunity to renew our commitment to making the homeownership experience better for our customers. We are proud of reaching over $100 billion in funded volume and of the technology we have built, but Better’s best days still lie ahead. Going public positions us well to build a business that will thrive through cycles, and we look forward to being good custodians of shareholder capital.”

As a public company, Better Home & Finance plans to continue advancing its technology to offer customers cutting-edge products in line with its mission to make homeownership cheaper, faster, and easier.

“Better provides a fundamentally different approach to homeownership by leveraging technology to offer customers the widest range of appropriate products,” said Prabhu Narasimhan, Managing Partner of NaMa Capital, formerly the Chief Investment Officer of Aurora and now a Director of Better Home & Finance commented. “Better’s leading technology platform and the vision of its leadership team provides it with significant competitive advantages that will drive value creation for stakeholders over the long term.”

Better serves customers in all 50 states and the United Kingdom through its suite of products including residential mortgage, insurance, and real estate services. In just six years since launch, Better has leveraged its tech platform, Tinman, to fund more than $100 billion in mortgage volume.

“I am proud of the role Aurora has played in bringing Better to the public market,” noted Arnaud Massenet, Managing Partner of NaMa Capital, former CEO of Aurora, and now a Director of Better Home & Finance said. “When we launched Aurora in March 2021, we did so to find a high-quality, tech-focused, business disrupting the status quo in its sector. Through our business combination with Better, we have now successfully fulfilled that aim and, over the past two years, Aurora has worked to deliver over $1.3 billion to Better’s balance sheet. We believe this transaction will deliver long-term value for our shareholders and we look forward to being part of the next stage of this journey.”