HousingWireHousingWire
AI-powered platform Friday Harbor today announced the completion of a $6 million seed round. The round was led by Abstract Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management.
Other participants in the round were Wischoff Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Blend alum Nichole Wischoff, and the AI2 Incubator, a technical incubator born from the Allen Institute for AI.
Per a release from Friday Harbor, the seed round will support the growth of its engineering team and support integrations with leading mortgage LOS and point-of-sale platforms
Friday Harbor was co-founded by Theo Ellis (CEO) and Jesse Collins (CTO) and launched in 2024 with support from the AI2 Incubator and CoFound Partners. Ellis was previously head of U.S. growth and an early employee at machine learning fintech Pagaya Technologies, and Collins held former senior engineering roles at leading fintech companies, including Affirm and Zillow, where he specialized in applying artificial intelligence to fraud detection and underwriting systems.
“I’ve always believed AI could be the great equalizer in mortgage lending,” said Ellis. “Thousands of lenders deserve access to the same tools as the mega-lenders—and in many cases, they’re now doing things the biggest players can’t. That’s what happens when you give lenders technology built by people who truly understand both AI and mortgage.”
The platform allows lenders of all sizes and budgets to leverage AI to read and interpret borrower documents, generate a borrower-specific needs list, underwrite files and flag potential conditions in real time, all of which reduce downstream friction and accelerate time to close.
Early adopters of the platform confirm the system’s ability to address costly tasks and mitigate errors that slow loan production.
“My LOs can’t stop talking about how much time they’re saving. Friday Harbor helps our team get ahead of potential issues before files even reach underwriting. That kind of early insight speeds up the process and creates a smoother experience for everyone—especially the borrower. I’ve never seen anything else like it,” shared Taylor Stork, chief operating officer at Developer’s Mortgage Company and president of the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA).
Kevin Peranio, chief lending officer at Paramount Residential Mortgage Group (PRMG), touted Friday Harbor’s speed and efficiency. “We started as a design partner of Friday Harbor because it is one the few uses of actual AI in analyzing documents being collected from borrowers,” he said. “We teamed up early because we knew a real, document-level AI would slash the busywork for underwriters and processors. Less back-and-forth, fewer headaches—everybody wins.”
