Digital mortgage broker Habito has created a protection department and has expanded its engineering team, making six hires to get the company's growth plans off to a running start.
According to Ying Tan, chief executive of Habito, the new protection team is part of the company's ongoing efforts for growth and expansion.
Since its launch in 2016, the company has raised more than £68mn in equity from Venture Capital companies Augmentum Fintech, Atomico, mojo.capital, Mosaic Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Volution and SBI Investment.
This latest expansion plan sees Rhys Walker, protection advice manager, Kulwinder Chana, protection expert and Niladri Chakraborty, protection expert, all join from Better.co.uk.
Walker said: "I'm thankful for the chance to be part of this amazing company, and have the opportunity to shape the protection team from the ground up. It underscores our dedication to helping customers protect what matters most to them."
Habito has also appointed Hannah Thornely and Matt Kingsbury to its engineering department, to make the mortgage journey more seamless.
Its final hire is Olivia Harris, mortgage expert, who joins from Mojo mortgages.
Tan said the creation of the new protection department was part of a strategic push to build out the business.
Tan said: "Having used a third party for protection referrals previously we felt it was time to bring the expertise in house.
"We are committed to simplifying the homebuying journey and putting customers first. We continue to develop exciting technology, and this can only be achieved by continued investment into our talented engineering team."
According to Tan, this marks a significant milestone for Habito, which has since launch in 2016 helped almost 600,000 people better understand their mortgage needs and submitted more than £11bn of mortgages.
In January 2020, the company launched Habito Plus - a service that brings a buyer’s mortgage application, conveyancing needs and survey under one roof.
