Flagstar Bank’s mortgage fintech accelerator calls for applicants

Flagstar Bank and the Fintech Consortium are taking new applications for a year-old program aimed at supporting the creation of innovative technology in the mortgage industry.

The Flagstar MortgageTech Accelerator program was designed to give qualified participants access to experienced mentors and potential customers. Applicants may also obstain access to seed capital funding. Support will be provided through live online sessions scheduled during East Coast hours. The deadline for applications is Sept. 30.

Companies accepted into the program in 2019 included Home Captain, a fintech that looks to increase mortgage-lead conversion rates by pairing prequalified homebuyers with real estate agents. Also accepted into the program last year were Brace, a fintech focused on distressed loan servicing, and Boost.ai, a provider of virtual assistant technology used by mortgage lenders and other financial services firms. Brace raised $10 million in February following its participation in the program. The Series A funding was led by Point72 Ventures.

Eastern Michigan, where Flagstar is headquartered, has become a hub for mortgage technology development in recent years.

Other technology-forward companies based there include Rock Holdings’ Quicken Loans, which created the Rocket Mortgage platform, and United Wholesale Mortgage, which has been one of the early adopters of remote notarization.

In addition to running an incubator program for fintechs, Flagstar’s technology-forward initiatives have included early adoption of electronic notes by both its warehouse lending and servicing divisions.

The company also at one point ran its own document management system. It agreed to sell that system, DocVelocity, to industry vendor Capsilon in 2013. (Capsilon later was acquired by origination technology provider Ellie Mae, which in turn was acquired recently by Intercontinental Exchange.)