Tidalwave Raises $22 Million Series A to Scale Agentic AI Mortgage Platform

Tidalwave, the New York-based fintech startup building an agentic AI-powered mortgage point-of-sale platform, announced a $22 million Series A funding round aimed at scaling its technology and accelerating adoption across the U.S. mortgage market. The latest investment brings Tidalwave’s total raised to $24 million, underscoring strong investor confidence in the company’s goal of automating and improving the traditionally slow and fragmented home-loan process.

Founded in 2023 by CEO Diane Yu alongside co-founders Jack Deng and Cheng Li, Tidalwave has developed a platform that uses specialized autonomous AI agents to handle end-to-end mortgage tasks—from real-time income, employment and asset verification to underwriting, fraud checks and compliance reviews. The technology integrates directly with major industry systems such as Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter and Freddie Mac’s Loan Product Advisor, as well as verification partners like Plaid, Argyle and Truv, with the aim of dramatically simplifying and accelerating mortgage approvals.

The Series A round was led by Permanent Capital, a Chicago-based investment firm known for partnering with enterprise-scale software and marketplace companies. Joining Permanent Capital in the financing were contributions from D.R. Horton, Inc., the nation’s largest homebuilder, which also serves as an enterprise customer of Tidalwave’s platform, and a follow-on investment from Engineering Capital, an investor that participated in earlier funding.

Tidalwave plans to deploy the new capital to expand its AI capabilities, deepen integrations with lender systems and grow its team and operations to support the processing of more than 200,000 loans annually. With the industry’s average mortgage closing timeline still hovering around 43 days, the company’s emphasis on automation is designed to reduce manual work and eliminate common bottlenecks that have persisted despite previous waves of digital transformation in mortgage technology.

According to Tidalwave’s leadership, the platform’s agentic AI agents function with minimal manual oversight, performing tasks such as document evaluation, underwriting decision support and multilingual guidance, including tailored assistance for Spanish-speaking borrowers. By streamlining these elements of the loan process, Tidalwave aims to deliver a faster, more accurate and more user-friendly mortgage experience for both lenders and borrowers.

The involvement of D.R. Horton as both an investor and customer highlights a notable trend in the round: strategic capital that connects funding with real-world deployment. Tidalwave’s platform is already being used by lenders including NEXA Lending, First Colony Mortgage and Mortgage Solutions to reduce paperwork, cut approval times and improve borrower engagement. This early traction signals growing industry interest in AI solutions that can tackle entrenched inefficiencies in home-loan origination.

In describing the mission behind the funding, Diane Yu has emphasized the company’s broader objective of transforming the borrower experience by making mortgage applications more transparent and less daunting for consumers. With automation handling routine tasks and real-time data validation embedded into the workflow, lenders can shift focus toward higher-value interactions while reducing operational costs and error rates.

The $22 million Series A infusion comes amid increasing investor interest in AI-driven fintech solutions, as the mortgage industry—characterized by legacy processes and complex compliance requirements—seeks tools that can drive speed and accuracy. By targeting a projected 4 percent share of the U.S. mortgage origination market by 2026, which equates to roughly 200,000 loans annually, Tidalwave’s strategy hinges on both technological differentiation and practical scalability.

Beyond capital, the participation of an enterprise like D.R. Horton reflects confidence in the platform’s actionable value, while Engineering Capital’s follow-on investment signals continued backing from early supporters. Permanent Capital’s leadership role further suggests that long-term, growth-oriented funding models are increasingly relevant for startups tackling capital-intensive sectors like mortgage technology.

As Tidalwave seeks to build momentum with lenders and expand its footprint across the mortgage originations landscape, the latest funding round positions the company to refine its AI capabilities, strengthen industry integrations and enhance the overall speed and transparency of the mortgage process for borrowers and lenders alike.