Fintechlab Company Spotlight: Hypomo
Welcome to Fintechlab’s Company Spotlight. In our newest series, we would like to introduce you to some of our portfolio companies via a short interview, covering topics such as where they have been since participating in our program, what milestones they’ve achieved so far, and a sneak peek at their plans for the near future.
This week’s interview is with Mark, the founder of Hypomo, a global online mortgage broker that aims to simplify mortgage deals by processing them completely online, for free. Certified by the National Bank of Slovakia, Mark’s company is not a regular one: it aims to transform the traditional broker system by paying their staff a monthly wage instead of interest for each closed deal. Grab a coffee or a beer and enjoy the interview!
How did you come up with the idea of Hypomo?
Hypomo’s idea was created with one of my co-workers, Monica. When I applied for mortgage few years ago, they refused my request. After that I tried with a mortgage broker, but they made serious administrative mistakes, it was almost rejected. So when I realized the system’s weak points, a 4-year adventure had begun to ultimate the mortgage industry to bridge the gap between online and traditional brokerage. I wanted to do it in a special way, where we eliminate brokers completely from the broker company.
Hypomo was founded in 2017 and it has been established for two years. We are currently a team of six people, and now we are starting a very rapid expansion strategy and we expect that by the end of the year we’d be around ten and by the end of 2021 our expectations would be around thirty or forty people.
What kind of solutions do you offer for your customers?
Right now our main thing are mortgages, it is outstanding because you can do it completely online, the mortgage application can be done less than 10 minutes and you have a document in your hand right after it. Once you do that, we assign you an expert, whom awarded based on client rates. So we are doing it in an opposite way, it is not depend on how well they can sell, but how the clients rate them. We have a five-star service. That is the way we want to revolutionize the mortgage industry.
Insurance is also a basic service, it goes along with mortgages, so we can instantly provide that as well. We also deal with real estate service for our clients.
And now we come to the topic that has had a huge impact on every company’s life these past few months. How has COVID-19 affected Hypomo?
During COVID-19 we continue to operate normally, because our work processes allow it to be online and the team can work from home, so in these terms we did not have to do radical changes in the way we work. Of course we experienced a slow-down period in the business as COVID-19 imploded, but after that we perceived that mortgages requests are growing so the curve has started to rise. I think it is because people are feel more safe, if they handle their things online.
You recently set up a main branch in London, can you tell details about it?
Yes, we recently set up the main branch in London and we are focusing getting investment from London, it is easier to seek investment there. During COVID-19 we got investment from a local angel investor, and she helped us so much to push through all the necessary things e.g. setting up a branch so we started to take action against the curve I mentioned before, which we did very successfully, there’s a three hundred percent increase in the past few months, which means the mortgage requests are growing.
You are also expanding in Hungary as well and hired a country manager at the same time. Why did you decide to come to Hungary?
We came to Hungary because this country was always in our plans and also because we had a pre-seed funding round with MKB. Hungary is a large market, very opened to new ideas and new things, we definitely see it as a strong market.
Our country manager’s duty firstly is to finalize the banking contract, start to seek after clients, and build up a team in Hungary.
Basically, everything is ready to launch, we just wait for the one final check from the National Bank who gives us balance status.
What are your long-term goals for the next few years, are you planning to expand?
In the next five years our strategy plan is to continue expand to multiple countries. The system we have built from the beginning fully saleable and able to go other countries. I want to be seen our company as we see it, a company to trust, to come and try the mortgage, investment or real estate.
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We hope you enjoyed this intro to Hypomo! To learn more and check their services, visit their website here: https://hypomo.com/
