Sindeo has snapped up a former executive at one of the country’s most prestigious private banks to help drive the startup’s growth.
Tony Sachs, former senior vice president of lending strategy, products and sales at First Republic Bank, will assume the role of chief lending officer at Sindeo, an online mortgage marketplace that arms consumers with insights into costs and fees to help them plan, qualify and shop for a mortgage with multiple lenders. First Republic Bank has $48 billion in assets and was named the top private bank in the U.S. by Family Wealth Report.
Sachs’ hiring comes on the heels of a $5 million funding round that Sindeo will use to expand outside of California, where the startup launched.
The company is building co-branded tools that will help real estate agents work with buyers early in the home shopping process to determine how much house they can afford and then to qualify for a loan. And it anticipates creating a portal that real estate agents could use to track the status of a client’s loan application.
Sachs’ experience in secondary marketing, credit, strategy, operations and sales will be “instrumental” as Sindeo pushes into new markets, according to Sindeo.
“With the addition of Tony, we have added a leader who will help us fulfill our mission of creating a better mortgage journey, one that is fast, simple and personal,” said Nick Stamos, CEO of Sindeo.
Sindeo aims to create an “end-to-end” experience for borrowers by using technology to connect borrowers with lenders, streamline the mortgage process and provide guidance from full-service “mortgage advisers” who are paid based partly on customer satisfaction.
The startup says it can close loans for borrowers in as few as 15 days, operating as a mortgage originator that either approves loans on behalf of partner lenders or submits completed loan applications to lender partners for their approval.
Sindeo says it executes closings with funds provided by partner lenders or a warehouse line financing partner, and has partnered with more than 40 lenders. Those lenders pay Sindeo up to 1.25 percent of the mortgages they fund.