According to HousingWire, Better has made a leadership change with board member Daniel Lewis stepping into the interim CEO role, while founder Vishal Garg remains on the board. Lewis brings over three decades of experience in operations, investment, and governance, including a previous stint as CEO of a Toronto-based software company and earlier roles at major financial institutions. The transition is designed to ensure a smooth handoff as the company moves forward with its strategic plans.
Garg emphasized that this is the right moment for new leadership, noting that Better has served more than 600,000 customers over the past decade with over $110 billion in total loan volume. He remains deeply invested in the company as its largest voting shareholder and expressed confidence that Better is approaching profitability while experiencing significant growth, particularly as it advances its artificial intelligence capabilities through its Tinman platform.
Lewis's compensation will be heavily weighted toward shareholder returns and long-term operating performance, aligning his interests directly with investors as the company works toward profitability. The new interim CEO is emphasizing efficiency over customer acquisition spending, with all of Better's distribution channels running on the Tinman technology platform. The company has also increased its cost reduction targets substantially, now expecting to exceed $45 million in annualized savings by year's end, well above the previous $25 million goal.
Better's preliminary second quarter results show funded loan volume grew 45 percent year over year to $1.67 billion, with revenue reaching $54.7 million, though the company posted a net loss of $30.6 million. The company is shifting toward a partner-led model where outside partners handle customer acquisition while Better focuses on efficient mortgage manufacturing and its underlying technology infrastructure. Additionally, Better continues exploring a sale of its U.K. banking subsidiary through a process managed by FT Partners.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area is that leadership stability matters tremendously when we're talking about an organization trying to transform its business model. Better's move toward a platform-based approach with partner distribution is something worth watching, especially as mortgage technology continues to evolve. The company's focus on AI and automation could have real implications for how our local real estate market operates, though we're still in the early innings of seeing whether this strategy actually delivers the profitability and efficiency gains they're targeting.
