Ultrafast broadband helps growing mortgage advisory firm
Belfast-based mortgage advisory firm, Mortgage Propeller, is celebrating two years in business by reporting a 600 per cent increase in sales throughout the UK and the creation of five additional jobs.
Matthew McAllister, co-founder of Mortgage Propeller, accredits Full Fibre broadband for getting the business off the ground and allowing them to operate.
After a couple of tedious experiences securing a mortgage himself, Matthew was determined to create a free platform to speed up the mortgage application process and remove unnecessary stress. Alongside his co-founders Brendan Sheehy and Paul Dalzell, as a FinTech startup, they needed investment to create the technology to launch a pilot and prove the concept.
Matthew, Brendan and Paul launched Mortgage Propeller just before the pandemic hit, however, significant investor commitments were lost overnight in March 2020 when the world went into lockdown.
Digital connectivity then played a key role in overcoming this challenge, enabling them to link up with other investors from across the globe via video calls to raise their first £500,000 of investment.
Matthew said: “On one Dragon’s Den style presentation I pitched to over 50 investors via Zoom. You need solid, reliable broadband to do that without any buffering or drop outs. Thankfully that went well and I got £100k of investment from 10 of the investors on the call. Having access to Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband made all the difference."
Speaking about the key role Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband played and continues to play in the business, Matthew continued: “Our broker platform, mortgagepropeller.com is a fully automated marketplace connecting home buyers from all over the UK with mortgage brokers. Within the space of seven months, £55m of mortgage applications went to over 30 brokers - that’s a lot of people buying their home through our fully online platform.
“Over 400 borrowers’ bought their home during lockdown with the help of broadband by connecting to our brokers. Even as the volume of activity increased the platform never crashed, it was seamless. We are really proud that so many borrowers were able to, and still continue to get their dream home secured through our platform. None of it would be possible without the businesses’ fast and reliable connection to Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband.”
At the heart of greater digital connectivity is having robust infrastructure in place that can cope with increasing demands and the continued development of new, data-hungry businesses. Openreach NI is leading the charge in ensuring the region has a future-proof broadband network capable of meeting these demands - now and for decades to come.
Speaking about the impact of Ultrafast Full Fibre on local businesses, Openreach NI Director Garret Kavanagh said: “We are delighted to hear about the impact Openreach NI’s build programme has had across local businesses in Northern Ireland. It is fantastic that having access to Full Fibre technology has opened up endless opportunities, even encouraging the set-up of new businesses throughout the most challenging of times during the pandemic.”
And the future continues to look bright for Mortgage Propeller who now have eight full-time staff and are actively hiring more.
