Adding to McKinney’s growing early-stage tech scene, another startup is moving its headquarters from one of the coasts to North Texas.
Mortgage-focused fintech firm Confer quietly moved its HQ from San Francisco to the northern Dallas suburb’s Serendipity Labs Building with the aim of helping users find the best price for their home. The move came not long after Confer launched its new platform.
Helping users compare mortgages
Confer Founder and CEO Yatin Karnik
Formed in 2021, the startup launched its ConferToday app at the beginning of April, operating what it calls a Compare-as-a-Service platform. Looking to add 100 customers within the 100 days beginning in August, Confer helps users compare multiple mortgage offers—something recommended by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It also plans to add the ability to provide custom mortgage offers to users, who will be able to select individual lenders, title-escrow providers, insurance companies, and more.
On the flip side, the company says it aims to open its platform to brokers, banks, and lenders in order to help them provide a plug-and-play model to give more options to borrowers, while expanding their provider network.
“The end goal is to guide buyers in making a conscious and intelligent decision,” Yatin Karnik, Confer founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Confer aims to raise a $4M seed round
With plans to fully launch its “mortgage marketplace” platform by next summer, Confer, which still has offices in California, was recently listed on the OCMX, a Canadian investor relations and marketing outreach firm helping connect startups with public and private financial networks, as it looks to raise $4 million in seed funding.
Confer joins concierge health care startup CourMed, cybersecurity startup Aiden Technologies, and a handful of other early-stage companies in setting up shop at the Serendipity Labs coworking space at McKinney’s Craig Ranch development.
While Confer didn’t specify its reasons for relocating, those other startups were drawn to the region with the help of the McKinney Economic Development Corporation’s Innovation Fund grants. The grants have been used to attract around 30 relocation or expansion deals, translating to more than 560 planned new jobs and more than 70,000 square feet of real estate demand, in an effort to diversify the city’s economy and create a local tech talent pool.
“The innovation that Confer is bringing to the mortgage industry is aligned with the vision for the creative and unique startup ecosystem that is being fostered right here in McKinney,” McKinney EDC President Peter Tokar said in a statement.
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