Overview
The lending services that big banks provide often come with many strings attached. The surcharges apart from the loan amount carve another hole in your pocket. Startups like Athena have provided alternative avenues of lending services. Athena is a Fintech Australian company that is making the process of getting loans and mortgages easy. Athena came into being in 2017, cofounded by Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey, both former Australian National Bank executives launched Athena Home Loans as a web portal where applying for loans is simpler and more transparent.
Their entire lending operation rests in three specialized areas: technologically enabling the application process to be completed on the web, no overhead costs like traditional banks, and an efficient customer support network. Here are some broad details about the company and its prospects, recent developments, and growth expectations.
Athena’s glistening Future
Athena has got the right intent in their services. Their company motto is not to give loans but to let people get rid of loans. In a way, they make the process of getting a home loan easy. In a situation where banks’s loans do not provide any good interest rates and if they are marred with additional surcharges apart from the principal and interest amount, Athena will be the better choice. As the Fintech sector evolves Athena will remain in vogue.
Image Source: https://www.athena.com.au/
Management Team
Nathan Walsh, Co Founder
Athena Home Loans
Nathen Walsh is one of the co-founders of Athena.
Mira Hohn, Chief Product Officer
Athena Home Loans
Mira Hohn is the Chief Product Officer at Athena.
Michael Starkey, Co Founder
Athena Home Loans
Michael Starkey is another co-founder of Athena.
Yamen AL Afifi, Chief Technical Officer
Athena Home Loans
Yamen Al Afifi is the CTO (Chief Technology Officer ) at Athena.
Company Highlights
- Athena managed to pull off $90 million in investments from Australian Local Investors in 2021, making them the largest receiver of funding in that round.
- In October 2022, Athena and Mortgage Choice announced the ‘Morgate Choice Freedom’ suite of loans co-developed by both companies. These loans include Mortgage Choice Freedom Saver, Mortgage Choice Freedom Flex, and Mortgage Choice Freedom Fixed.
- On April 4, 2023, Sarah Sproule donned the new CMO hat in Athena as Natalie Dinsdale resigned from the role after 5 years. Sarah is a former head of brand and marketing head of Bank of Melbourne which is part of the Westpac group.
- On July 11, 2023, Athena wrote a letter to the Australian Securities and Exchanges Board, mentioning the raising of $20 million from existing investors to maintain its valuation in a shaky market of lending services. In return, all the investors will get SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). SAFEs are shares that will be given at discounted prices in the future.
- Athena will use the $20 million investment to introduce REA group’s mortgage choice brand loans.
Products
Straight Up
Straight Up loan has the lowest interest rates. You can choose to drop your interest rate through the Athena Accelerates plan which reduces the interest rate as per LVR (loan-to-value ratio). There are many tiers available at many levels once you reach the lowest LVR, your interest rate will automatically drop. In Straight Up you do not need to pay any additional costs, valuation fees, exit or monthly fees. It has an automatic rate match as a feature, if the interest rates change, you can get a better deal. You can use the redraw feature from the offset account but you need to tell that to the customer service. You can check interest rates on different LVR tiers here.
Power Up
Power Up is similar to straight-up but has multiple offset options. In the 100% offset option, you can credit your salary into your loan account and pay lower interest rates. There is no additional surcharge levied in this process. In Split and Flexi Power Up loans, you can split your loan payments into multiple parts, and choose whether to keep an offset or not. There are additional options for choosing fixed or variable interest rates for all the parts. It gives you the freedom to pay the loans according to your wants.
Another Power Up loan that Athena offers is Multiple Offset loans where the concept of cash stash is calculated. Each cash stash or amount of money has its offsets, hence varying interest rates. This cash stash strategy helps in compartmentalizing your money for different avenues of spending.
Interest Only
Athena provides interest-only loans (IO loans). In IO loans you need to only pay back the interest amount of your loans for a shorter period and once you have paid that you can then revert to paying the principal and interest amount together. When to start paying the full amount? There will be a discussed timeline between Athena’s loans team. and the customer, a correct date to redraw or mark an offset can be done to infuse principal and interest payments together.
Fixed
Fixed as the name suggests means fixed interest rates that you need to pay for the loan. Interest rates are subject to change now and then, in a fixed interest rate system your interest amount remains the same, The Fixed Interest rate starts from 6.4%.
Milestones
2nd June 2016 - Seed Money Funding
Athena Home Loans managed to score their first seed money of $1 Million. Prominent investors include Square Peg Capital, Reinventure, and SecondQuarter Ventures. The investors were impressed by its technological precision in granting loans.
8th October 2018 - Series A Funding
Athena’s vision gets adequately recognized by a host of top-tier investors, and that includes, Square Peg Capital, Reinventure, SecondQuarter Ventures, and AirTree Ventures. The company managed to pull in $20 Million and they used it to expand their team and improve their digital platform.
26th November 2018 - Series B Funding
Athena got $26.4 million in their Series B session. Hostplus a leading SuperAnnuation fund invested in Athena in collaboration with Square Peg Capital. This led to reaching and expanding the current base of customers. This is when Athena had its breakthrough.
1st October 2019 - Series C Funding
Athena’s rise to power has not gone unnoticed by big Funds. Venture capital funds include Australian Super and Salesforce Ventures, along with Square Peg Capital and AirTree provided $70 million in funds. The company managed to get the highest Australian-led venture capital round. This strengthened Athena’s expansion to more homes.
11th May 2021 - Series D Funding
In Series D Funding Athena shattered the records, by getting a whopping $90 million with companies like Morgan Stanley and Fidelity International as investors. It further made the company improve its technological domain.
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