Last week, my good friend and Equity podcast co-host Natasha Mascarenhas and I announced that Amazon had struck a deal with established online mortgage lender Better.com to offer a new employee benefit.

Specifically, Better.com announced that it is launching Equity Unlocker, a program that allows employees to use their equity as collateral for a down payment when trying to buy a home.

Amazon employees in Florida, New York, and Washington state will be testing the tool first. What’s unique about the program.

Better.com

According to Better.com, is that employees will be able to finance their homes without actually selling their stock, only having to put up equity.

The news, frankly, came as a bit of a shock to those of us who have been following the goings-on at Better.com.

For the uninitiated, the fintech company has had its fair share of struggles that call into question its future.

Last May, TechCrunch reported on a filing that revealed Better.com swung to a loss of more than $300 million in 2021 after a rapid decline in business caused largely by a slowdown in the housing market and a surge in mortgage interest. rates.

In the first quarter of 2022 alone, Better.com posted a staggering net loss of $327.7 million, according to an SEC filing.

The company’s reputation was also badly hit by the way it carried out numerous rounds of mass layoffs, which also resulted in an exodus of executives.

Better.com also made headlines last July when it appeared to be moving forward with a SPAC filing despite a lackluster performance of blank-check debuts.

So why would Amazon want to be associated with a company that appears far from growth and has a less-than-stellar reputation, and associate its own employees with it?

Well, we asked Amazon . And the spokesperson told me a lot of things about how the company wants to provide all kinds of wellness benefits to its employees, and that fit into that thesis.

But he never specifically answered, “Why Better.com?” The fintech itself noted that it has been an Amazon Web Services customer since 2015, and its lending system is powered entirely by software.

A very quick Google search by TC senior reporter Rebecca Szkutak turned up at least two other online mortgage lenders who are also AWS customers, so the retail giant surely had other options.

Besides, the idea of ​​giving employees the option to use tied up equity when buying a home just doesn’t seem very appealing.

What if the stock goes down in value? How does it even work? Who even has enough equity to use as collateral?

In addition, Better.com says it will charge 0.25% to 2.5% higher interest rates for employees who choose to buy a home this way.

Mortgage interest rates are already high enough today – hovering around 6%. Upgrading to another 2.5% puts someone in the 8% range.

Needless to say, we’re all very curious to see how this ends up, and I plan to check back in a few months.

Meanwhile, speaking of Better.com’s SPAC filing, HousingWire reported last week that “Aurora Acquisition Corp. has extended the deadline for completing its merger with struggling digital mortgage lender Better.com for a third time.

The merger deadline is now September. The decision was made at a meeting of Aurora shareholders held on February 24, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed.

The idea that Better.com, which has had so many setbacks and so much negative publicity.

Could actually go public in an environment where even companies that are growing and can share positive financial indicators are hesitant is pretty hard to believe.

First, I’m very curious to see how the company stays afloat.

To hear the Equity team’s thoughts on the Amazon/Better.com partnership (and much more!), listen to the podcast here.

And while you’re at it, tune in for my one-on-one interview with Index Ventures partner and head of fintech Mark Goldberg.

We had a great discussion about all the fints and Mark didn’t hold back! Oh, and ICYMI, I also spoke with Hans Tung, Managing Partner of GGV, a few weeks ago.

You can catch this super interesting convo here.Romain Delet reports: “All-in-one fintech app Reverse has released its 2021 annual report.

While 2021 ended over a year ago, the report contains some key statistics as the company nearly tripled its revenue in 2020 to 2021. for the first time.

Revolut’s financial success starts at the top of the journey. At the end of 2021, Revolut had more than 16 million customers, a 46% increase compared to 2020.

Last week we wrote about Klarna Momentum in the U.S. This week, the Swedish payments giant revealed that it expects to return to profitability this year, despite suffering a significant operating loss ($1 billion) in 2022.

In this article, Alex Wilhelm asks: “ How far is Klarna progressing towards profitability? He wrote: “The formerly publicly traded startup has had a rough couple of quarters.

From the sharp drop in its valuation to the layoffs, the news surrounding Klarna has been negative for some time.

Now that we have the company’s financials, we can see in more detail how it fared amid all the noise.

Ayesha Malik reports, “Doordash Launches First Credit Card with Follow, DoorDash Rewards will offer MasterCard cardholders the opportunity to earn cash back on cash on delivery and every additional purchase made with the card.

The launch of the new credit card indicates that DoorDash is looking for ways to increase customer loyalty and keep your platform at the forefront. minds of its users.

This move also gives DoorDash the ability to offer users additional features while opening up new avenues for revenue.”

Carly Page: “Hatch bank, the first digital bank that provides fintech infrastructure for private-brand credit card companies.

Has confirmed that hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the company’s internal file transfer software that sent thousands of customers to social networks allowing access to security numbers.

Sources: Techcrunch | biz.crast.net