Friday Harbor, an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, has received a $6 million seed round led by Abstract Ventures.
With Friday Harbor’s platform, lenders of all sizes can leverage AI to read and interpret borrower documents, generate a borrower-specific needs list, underwrite files and flag potential conditions—all in real time, the firm says in a release.
Each flagged issue includes a suggested resolution, enabling loan officers to take action with a single click. By compressing what typically takes weeks of back-and-forth into just minutes, Friday Harbor reduces downstream friction and accelerates time to close.
Abstract Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management and a track record of backing breakout companies including Rippling, xAI, Hebbia, Brigit and Hippo and Mischief, an early-stage VC fund co-founded by Plaid CEO Zach Perret.
Also participating in the round were Wischoff Ventures, a VC firm founded by Blend alum Nichole Wischoff; and the AI2 Incubator, a technical incubator born from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2).
Friday Harbor was founded with a mission to make advanced AI tools accessible to all lenders—not just those with the biggest budgets. By replacing outdated, manual workflows and automating key underwriting steps, the platform empowers banks, credit unions and independent mortgage banks (IMBs) to match—or even surpass—the speed, cost-efficiency and borrower experience of mega-lenders like Rocket Companies and United Wholesale Mortgage, which together accounted for one-fifth of all IMB originations in 2024, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.
“I’ve always believed AI could be the great equalizer in mortgage lending,” says Theo Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Friday Harbor, in the release. “Thousands of lenders deserve access to the same tools as the mega-lenders—and in many cases, they’re now doing things the biggest players can’t. That’s what happens when you give lenders technology built by people who truly understand both AI and mortgage.”
The $6 million seed round will support the growth of Friday Harbor’s engineering team and support integrations with leading mortgage LOS and point-of-sale platforms—paving the way for more lenders to automate file setup, accelerate underwriting and compete directly with the largest lenders in the country.
Photo: Steve Johnson