Thiel-Backed Mortgage Lender Generation Home Raises $1.3 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Generation Home, a U.K. mortgage lending startup whose backers include billionaire Peter Thiel, has raised 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in debt financing from Waterfall Asset Management LLC.

The money will be used by Generation to lend more to first-time home buyers, according to a statement Monday. The funding will be partially financed by Barclays Plc.

U.K. house prices have just had their strongest year since 2006, with buyers starting to shrug off concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic. The average price of a home rose 1% to 254,822 pounds in December, usually one of the quietest months of the year, according to Nationwide Building Society. That was double the pace expected by economists.

Generation Home was founded in 2019 by husband and wife Will Rice and Sophia Guy-White. It counts big-name fintech investors Thiel, co-founder of PayPal Holdings Inc., and Tom Blomfield, co-founder of U.K. challenger Monzo Bank Ltd., among its backers.

Thiel's Mithril Capital led a $30.4 million funding round in Generation Home in June, which followed the company securing 300 million pounds of debt financing from NatWest Markets Plc.

“Capital accumulation is the greatest challenge faced by young people, who struggle to get onto the property ladder while saving for their own retirement,” Rice said in Monday's statement. “The additional funding provided by Waterfall is a vote of confidence in an industry starved of innovation, and will directly help thousands more aspiring homeowners realise their dream.”