Rock Holdings Inc. has acquired Vancouver-based Lendesk, giving the parent company of Quicken Loans access to Lendesk’s proprietary, direct-to-lender mortgage application network that streamlines the mortgage origination process.
Lendesk will continue to operate independently from its Vancouver headquarters and be led by Alex Conconi, the company’s founder and CEO. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
“In a short amount of time, the team at Lendesk has built technology to streamline communication and workflow between mortgage brokers and lenders in Canada, and established a strong network of brokers and lenders who are connected through Lendesk’s new platform,” Rock Holdings CEO Jay Farner said in a statement. “Ultimately the technology will benefit Canadian consumers, who will experience a smoother and quicker mortgage process. We look forward to working closely with the Lendesk team, supporting them in their mission to innovate and reinvent the mortgage process for all of Canada.”
This is the second investment Rock Holdings has made in Canada over the past two years. In 2017, Rocket Homes, a subsidiary of Rock Holdings, purchased Toronto-based OpenHouse Realty — a company specializing in the development of proprietary home and real estate agent search technology. In addition, Quicken Loans recently announced plans to open a 100-person technology center in downtown Windsor, Ontario — just across the Detroit River from Quicken Loans’ Detroit headquarters.
Launched in October 2018, the Lendesk platform has gained the support of many of Canada’s largest institutional lenders. They have integrated their underwriting systems with the company’s broker-facing systems, enabling broker partners to provide a digital experience to clients while improving process efficiency and removing the opportunity for fraud and errors with features like direct-from-source data capture.
“Our partnership with Rock Holdings will allow us to gain wisdom and insight from the world’s leading mortgage technology company, as we continue to improve the entire experience, from the time of application through closing,” Conconi said in a statement.
