Fintech lender Athena banks $90 million series D

Simon Thomsen - May 11, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Image: AdobeStock

Fintech Athena Home Loans has raised $90 million in its latest funding round.

A range of previous investors returned for the series D, led by Square Peg Capital, including AirTree Ventures, Macquarie Bank, superannuation funds AustralianSuper, Hostplus, and Sunsuper, plus Salesforce Ventures, and Apex Capital.

Athena previously raised $70 million in a series C in October 2019. Square Peg’s Paul Bassat joined the Athena board in 2018 when the company raised $15 million in a Series A. Six months later, in November 2018, it raised $25 million in a Series B.

The cloud-based fintech, founded in 2017 by two former NAB executives, also counts Rice Warner, NAB Ventures and RESIMAC Group among its investors.

Athena’s loan book has grown by 500% in the last 18 months. A majority of the mortgages it writes are refinancing existing loans. The business now now settled nearly $2.5 billion worth of lending.

Simon Thomsen

Simon has been editor of Startup Daily since 2019.

He hosted the Startup Daily show on streaming service ausbiz.com.au from 2020 to 2023.

He was previously associate editor of Business Insider Australia, a national restaurant critic, editor of The Good Food Guide, and newspaper proprietor during a 30-year career in journalism and publishing.

He's also an investor in early stage startups.

Simon chaired the environment committee of industry lobby group Australian Business Ltd's (now NSW Business Chamber) during the Kyoto agreement era, debating cow farts with mining execs.