{"id":130274,"date":"2025-10-17T12:07:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=130274"},"modified":"2025-10-17T12:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:02:20","slug":"firstclose-and-lateral-investment-management-announce-additional-equity-funding-to-support-continued-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/firstclose-and-lateral-investment-management-announce-additional-equity-funding-to-support-continued-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"FirstClose and Lateral Investment Management announce additional equity funding to support continued growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 17, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — FirstClose<\/a>™, Inc., a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, today announced the completion of an additional round of equity funding, which was led by existing investor Lateral Investment Management, based in San Mateo, California.<\/p>\n

\"FirstClose
Image caption: FirstClose.<\/em><\/p>\n

The latest round builds on Lateral\u2019s initial 2022 investment and underscores continued investor confidence in FirstClose\u2019s strategy, technology and leadership team. The funds will support ongoing product development and strategic initiatives as the company strengthens its position within the home equity and mortgage lending markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cLateral has been a great partner and a critical factor in our company\u2019s growth and success to date,\u201d said Tedd Smith, chief executive officer of FirstClose. \u201cThis new round of funding reinforces our partnership and allows us to stay focused on delivering the technology lenders need to meet rising demand for home equity lending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Lateral\u2019s initial investment in 2022, FirstClose has expanded its capabilities and market footprint. The company introduced a real-time debt consolidation feature<\/a> to its FirstClose Equity platform, which early trials showed boosted conversion rates by more than 10%. It also deepened system integrations with leading platforms, such as Encompass\u00ae by ICE Mortgage Technology™<\/a>, MeridianLink<\/a> and Optimal Blue<\/a>, and added new executives in key leadership roles, including chief revenue officer<\/a>, vice president of marketing<\/a> and vice president of client success<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first invested in FirstClose, we saw the potential for the company to become the technology leader in home equity lending,\u201d said Stuart Barden, Managing Director at Lateral Investment Management. \u201cSince then, the team has consistently delivered, expanding its client base, deepening integrations and introducing innovations that streamline the lending process. We\u2019re proud to continue supporting FirstClose as it builds on that foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

About FirstClose<\/strong><\/p>\n

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, FirstClose, Inc. provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. The company\u2019s mission is to increase profitability and reduce cost for mortgage lenders. FirstClose makes this possible through offering systems and relationships that enable lenders to assist their borrowers more effectively, reduce closing costs and ultimately shorten closing times. For more information, visit https:\/\/www.firstclose.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About Lateral Investment Management, LLC<\/strong><\/p>\n

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Lateral is a growth-oriented private equity firm that invests in bootstrapped, founder-led technology and technology-enabled services businesses. The firm focuses on profitable, U.S. middle market companies with no prior institutional financing and makes $15 million to $75 million investments to accelerate their growth. By pursuing sub-sector focused proprietary deal origination, founder-aligned partnerships, and a systematic and proactive approach to value creation, Lateral helps to transform its portfolio companies into category leaders. For more information, visit:\u00a0https:\/\/lateralim.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 17, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — FirstClose™, Inc., a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, today announced the completion of an additional round of equity funding, which was led by existing investor Lateral Investment Management, based in San Mateo, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10077,"featured_media":129648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575,12804,334,1,38,39,55],"tags":[205],"class_list":["post-130274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investment-news","category-ap","category-austin-news","category-business-news","category-finance-news","category-mortgage-news","category-texas-news","tag-depthpr","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":3339,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130274"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130279,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130274\/revisions\/130279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}