Ocrolus, a financial document automation provider, and end-to-end cloud-based lending platform Blend, announced a strategic partnership which will embed Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) document analysis into Blend’s digital mortgage applications, according to a press release.
The partnership will incorporate Ocrolus’s technology, which automates financial document data capture, cash flow analysis and fraud detection, into Blend’s existing digital mortgage systems.
While this will start with a focus on classifying documents and capturing mortgage application data, the two companies say there is potential for expansion into other business areas in the future.
“Blend is simplifying and streamlining the lending experience for consumers and bankers alike. We’re enhancing the Blend platform with Ocrolus’s automated, accurate document classification and data extraction capabilities,” Blend manager of business development Jeff Braddock stated in the release.
“Our partnership with Ocrolus enables us to swiftly deliver time-saving innovations to our customers,” he said.
This partnership follows Ocrolus’s recent $80 million Series C led by Fin VC, which brought the company’s total funding raised to $127 million and valuation to over $500 million. At that time, the company said it would use the funding to “aggressively” build new products for mortgage lending and expand US operations.
It also recently launched its plug-and-play platform for developers, starting with Plaid integrations that enable verification of anyone’s income and employment. The new partnership shows Ocrolus is continuing to push itself into new partnerships, with a wide range of technology companies.
The news follows Google’s recent announcement that it would be partnering with Roostify to launch its own Lending DocAI software, which captures and extracts information from mortgage documents.
DocAI is Google’s first-ever product for financial sectors, and a clear signal to other mortgage and tech players that in order to keep up they will need to integrate financial document automation.
In other recent fintech news, Monument Bank was cleared by the FCA to launch its neobank aimed at affluent professionals. Botkeeper also raised a $42 million Series C and added Tom Golisano to its board, utilizing artificial intelligence to automate bookkeeping solutions for accounting firms.