Ocrolus, Blend Announce Partnership to Automate Lending

Document automation platform Ocrolus and cloud banking platform Blend announced Monday (Nov. 8) a strategic partnership that will embed Ocrolus’ Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) document analysis solution within the Blend platform to accelerate digital mortgage applications.

“Blend is simplifying and streamlining the lending experience for consumers and bankers alike,” said Jeff Braddock, manager of business development at Blend. “We’re enhancing the Blend platform with Ocrolus’ automated, accurate document classification and data extraction capabilities. Our partnership with Ocrolus enables us to swiftly deliver time-saving innovations to our customers.”

Ocrolus serves as Blend’s primary document automation provider, focusing initially on classifying documents and capturing data for mortgage applications and potentially extending into consumer and small business lending applications as well, the companies reported.

“Blend is a clear industry leader in cloud banking with a best-in-class user journey for mortgage borrowers,” Sam Bobley, co-founder and CEO at Ocrolus, said in the press release. “At Ocrolus, we’re hyper-focused on API-based document automation for lenders, a backend service that perfectly complements Blend’s powerful, front-end experience.”

Read more: Ocrolus Value Exceeds $500M After Netting $80M in Series C Round

In September, Ocrolus announced it had raised $80 million in a Series C funding round that valued the document automation platform at more than $500 million. The company said at the time that it would use the funding to ramp up its products in the mortgage lending and banking sectors and expand its operations in the U.S.

See also: Blend Stock Trades At Brisk Pace In NYSE Debut With $360M IPO

Two months earlier, in July, Blend Labs, Inc. launched its initial public offering of 20 million shares of Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, starting at $18 per share and crossing the $20-per-share threshold in early action on the floor. The IPO brought in $360 million for the digital lending firm, valuing it at $4 billion.