Irvine-based startup Cloudvirga Inc. is planning to double in size with a move to new headquarters at University Research Park, the latest sign of expansion for the fast-growing mortgage software company, which has raised more than $77 million from investors since its 2016 founding.
The fintech firm, which makes software that automates the mortgage process, is planning to relocate to 24,000 square feet of office space at the business park near University of California-Irvine, at a recently renovated building last used by chipmaker Broadcom.
Cloudvirga’s currently at the Jamboree Business Center office complex near the Market Place shopping center. Both its current and future headquarters are owned by Newport Beach-based Irvine Co.
The full-floor spot at University Research Park should provide the company plenty of room to grow as it prepares to roll out new services.
The new lease—terms of which are still being finalized—in one of the county’s big, and expanding hubs for innovation could help convince local techies that Orange County can hold its own against Silicon Valley, according to co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Kyle Kamrooz.
“We want to create an awesome talent pool to compete with Silicon Valley for fintech, for technology,” he said. “We want to bring some of the brightest minds into Orange County, because it’s the best place to live.”
Kamrooz was one of five honorees at the annual Business Journal Innovator of the Year Awards on Sept. 20 at Hotel Irvine (see other winner profiles, pages 1, 4, 6 and 8).
New Product
The planned HQ move is the latest notable news for Cloudvirga, which has attracted attention for both its product offerings designed to make the mortgage application process easier for borrowers and brokers, and for its lengthy list of financial backers.
The company’s latest offering geared for lenders and banks, Mobile Point of Sale, is scheduled to launch in the first quarter.
“The core value of the product is giving lenders the ability to be mobile and follow up with clients and Realtors, and collaborate with them, all from their mobile device,” Kamrooz said.
The product aims to eliminate manual administrative tasks with automated prompts, like loan approval updates and appraisal alerts, delivered through text messages, apps or email—a heretofore-arcane process that Kamrooz says can average $9,000 per mortgage.
“Now you don’t have to go log onto a website,” the Dana Point native said. “You can do your mortgage on mobile.”
Borrowers also can upload documents, such as bank statements, and verify assets and income electronically.
Under the subscription service model, Cloudvirga charges lenders a fee for every transaction.
Cloudvirga’s flagship intelligent Mortgage Platform, or iMP, supported about $17 billion in loan transactions last year from its growing customer base, which originated more than $100 billion in loans.
Chief Executive Michael Schreck told the Business Journal in May that more than 5,000 loan officers will use the Cloudvirga system this year, pushing revenue to nearly $20 million.
Since then, the software maker has added more than 40 employees, primarily in OC, and now has about 170 workers companywide. It’s looking to add about 30 more to meet demand.
The company has about 100 employees in Irvine.
$77M in Funding
The hiring push was fueled by a $50 million Series C round in May led by private-equity firm Riverwood Capital in Menlo Park, which has more than 25 investments in its portfolio.
Riverwood Principal Scott Ransenberg and Vice President Jay Schneider joined the Cloudvirga board as part of the transaction.
Santa Monica-based Upfront Ventures, Los Angeles’ largest venture fund, with $2 billion under management, also participated in the round, among the biggest in Orange County this year. It came in a breakout second quarter for VC funding, a period that saw local software firms UST Global and Cylance also nab big investments, raising $250 million and $120 million, respectively.
Cloudvirga was founded by Chairman Bill Dallas, Chief Information Officer Mark Attaway and Kamrooz.
The company hasn’t had trouble attracting funding; institutional backers have invested in it every year since it spun out of Calabasas-based lender Skyline Home Loans in 2016.
The software maker raised $15 million last year in a Series B round led by Incenter, a Blackstone Group portfolio company in Minnesota that’s grown into one of the largest providers of capital and services to lenders and financiers in the nation.
One of the country’s largest nonbank mortgage originators is also an investor, but Cloudvirga has declined to name the firm, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
Cloudvirga’s growth strategy next year, according to Kamrooz, is geared to “empower mortgage brokers,” a sector on the rise again after smaller, independent brokers largely disappeared following the financial meltdown and mortgage crises.
“Mortgage brokers are making a huge comeback now,” he said.
The latest developments closely follow a refinance boom fueled by years of low interest rates, and rising costs and lengthier cycles to produce loans, largely driven by newer federal rules and regulations imposed after the subprime mortgage crisis, which bubbled up in OC before it blew up across the country and then the globe.
“We want to increase home ownership for everybody, and we want our digital platform to make it simple and easy,” Kamrooz said.
