Vesta Raises $30M for AI Agents Streamlining Mortgage Decisions
Vesta has secured $30 million in Series B funding to expand its AI agents that automate mortgage origination tasks, including underwriting decisions. Three lenders who already utilize the software participated in the round, alongside investors like Conversion Capital, Citi Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz.
The company's CEO, Mike Yu, attributes the surge in demand to a twelvefold increase in revenue over the past year. Despite having raised $85 million total, Vesta currently holds less than 5% of the market share. Lenders on their platform process over $100 billion in mortgages annually, with approximately 40% of tasks now handled by AI agents and automated workflows.
These tasks extend beyond mere paperwork; agents assist with document review, data validation, underwriting decisions, condition clearing, and closing package reviews. The primary allure lies in cost reduction: a US mortgage typically takes 40 days to close at a cost of roughly $11,000, primarily attributed to labor.
Yu attributes this success to Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.5 model, praising its ability to follow configured instructions over extended periods required in mortgage work.
However, automated lending decisions carry historical biases. In 2021, The Markup revealed that US lenders were 80% more likely to deny loan applications from Black applicants than comparable white ones, even after controlling for financial factors.
Yu emphasizes ongoing lender accountability for underwriting decisions made through software, with every action and rationale meticulously logged for audit purposes.
Regulations differ significantly between the US and Europe. The AI Act places systems evaluating creditworthiness in its high-risk category, specifically targeting mortgage approvals. This obliges providers to undergo conformity assessments and registration, while deployers must assign human oversight and maintain extensive logs. These duties were initially scheduled for August this year but have been postponed to December 2, 2027, due to the establishment of an AI Office with fine-imposing capabilities.
Meanwhile, GDPR Article 22 already restricts automated decisions with significant legal effects, such as a denied mortgage application, in Europe. Taktile, a Berlin-based startup, raised $110 million in June for AI agents underwriting business loans, avoiding the scope of GDPR 5(b) because it exclusively focuses on natural persons.
Story by Ana-Maria Stanciuc, Editor-in-Chief at TNW.