Friday Harbor raises $6M to help community mortgage lenders match the speed and efficiency of industry giants
- AI-powered platform enables lenders of all sizes to close loans faster, reduce costs and ensure compliance in real time -
SEATTLE, Wash., April 15, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Friday Harbor, an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced the completion of a $6 million seed round. The round was led by Abstract Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management and a track record of backing breakout companies including Rippling, xAI, Hebbia, Brigit and Hippo (NYSE: HIPO) and Mischief, an early-stage VC fund co-founded by Plaid CEO Zach Perret.
Also participating in the round were Wischoff Ventures, a VC firm founded by Blend (NYSE: BLND) alum Nichole Wischoff; and the AI2 Incubator, a technical incubator born from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2).
With Friday Harbor's platform, lenders of all sizes can leverage AI to read and interpret borrower documents, generate a borrower-specific needs list, underwrite files and flag potential conditions—all in real time. Each flagged issue includes a suggested resolution, enabling loan officers to take action with a single click. By compressing what typically takes weeks of back-and-forth into just minutes, Friday Harbor reduces downstream friction and accelerates time to close.
Friday Harbor was founded with a mission to make advanced AI tools accessible to all lenders—not just those with the biggest budgets. By replacing outdated, manual workflows and automating key underwriting steps, the platform empowers banks, credit unions and independent mortgage banks (IMBs) to match—or even surpass—the speed, cost-efficiency and borrower experience of mega-lenders like Rocket Companies and United Wholesale Mortgage, which together accounted for one-fifth of all IMB originations in 2024, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.
'I've always believed AI could be the great equalizer in mortgage lending,' said Friday Harbor CEO and Co-founder Theo Ellis. 'Thousands of lenders deserve access to the same tools as the mega-lenders—and in many cases, they're now doing things the biggest players can't. That's what happens when you give lenders technology built by people who truly understand both AI and mortgage.'
Early adopters of Friday Harbor confirm the system's ability to address costly 'stare and compare' tasks and mitigate errors that slow loan production:
Friday Harbor was founded by Ellis and Jesse Collins (CTO) and launched in 2024 with support from the AI2 Incubator and CoFound Partners. Ellis was previously head of U.S. growth and an early employee at machine learning fintech Pagaya Technologies (NASDAQ: PGY), where he helped launch multiple new consumer credit verticals for the company. Collins previously held senior engineering roles at leading fintech companies including Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) and Zillow (NASDAQ: Z), where he specialized in applying artificial intelligence to fraud detection and underwriting systems.
The $6M seed round will support the growth of Friday Harbor's engineering team and support integrations with leading mortgage LOS and point-of-sale platforms—paving the way for more lenders to automate file setup, accelerate underwriting and compete directly with the largest lenders in the country.
About Friday Harbor
Friday Harbor is an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time. The company combines deep fintech expertise with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to remove complexity, slash origination costs and deliver a better borrower experience. For more information, visit https://fridayharbor.ai/.
Tags: #mortgagetech #AI #fintech #seedfunding #venturecapital
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NEWS SOURCE: Friday Harbor
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MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:
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Leslie W. Colley
Depth for Friday Harbor
[email protected]
(678) 622-6229
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Keywords: Mortgage, Friday Harbor Inc, AI-powered platform that helps loan officers, SEATTLE, Wash.
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