News – Blog
29 September 2021
Author: Richard Hayes, CEO, Mojo Mortgages
How can a challenge prize provide support beyond just a financial award? Richard Hayes reveals how the Open Up 2020 Challenge helped propel his company forwards.
In October 2020, it was announced that Mojo Mortgages was one of the winners of the Open Up 2020 Challenge. The challenge was a £1.5 million prize to unlock innovative open banking solutions to help solve some of the longstanding financial issues faced by consumers.
Anyone who has applied for a mortgage will know just how complicated the process can be when you know you can afford to borrow. The processes haven’t changed for decades. So imagine the barrier this presents to those who are not even sure whether they’re mortgage-ready. That’s what we aimed to change, and we won £200,000 to help us achieve this.
Based in Manchester, we provide our 70,000 monthly users with personalised mortgage recommendations by combining credit scoring and open banking data to help determine a client’s mortgage readiness. After calculating their score, the MortageCoach provides personalised guidance on how to improve their score.
There are plenty of traditional grant programmes in the fintech space, but it was the challenge prize that really appealed to us, and we chose to concentrate on Open Up 2020. We felt the challenge prize aligned with what we were trying to do by helping us create a better customer experience, but also challenging antiquated lending practices.
It really is time to change the disjointed nature of the mortgage application process. There are too many dead ends and counterintuitive paths that a homebuyer must take before getting a new home. They’re unnecessary and making life difficult when they should be making life easier.
We aim to give everyone a level playing field when looking to get on the property ladder. Our platform allows users to get a mortgage without the stress of lender scrutiny – perfect for early-stage house hunters. It is also beneficial for some users to learn that they are not as mortgage ready as they thought they were, so that they can get themselves into a stronger position.
Our approval process, using accurate open banking data, is more transparent than the standard “computer says no” of incumbent lenders – so if our users are not ready, or will likely be charged higher rates, we inform them and help them take action.
Beyond the prize money, participating in the Open Up 2020 Challenge offered many other benefits that helped our brand grow exponentially. The prestige of winning led to a wave of positive and high-profile press coverage. As a result, we made numerous industry connections that would have been difficult to make as a start-up had we not taken part.
We improved our branding thanks to the expert workshops and coaching sessions that Challenge Works provided to the competing teams to help build their capacity. It meant our brand evolved to be representative of what we had become but also positioned us to cut through in a competitive market of established household names.
Our success story since winning continued in July 2021. RVU, the owners of Uswitch, Money.co.uk and Confused.com, agreed to buy Mojo Mortgages (subject to regulatory approval) with the aim of scaling the business to handle the mortgage enquiries from some of the 15 million users that visit its sites each month. It has been quite a year!
For us, the next step will be to build our coaching services, helping support our users to make their finances look the best they can before submitting a mortgage application. It will become a part of our new account section that combines home buying and mortgage processes in one place. And, of course, we have new projects on the horizon; alongside the other RVU brands.
Challenge prizes support innovators and disruptors to grow their ideas, build capacity and develop products that can make a real difference to people. The legacy of taking part has had benefits far wider than the £200,000 prize and longer lasting than the prize’s lifetime. We are taking this exciting next step in the Mojo Mortgages journey – from start-up to scale-up – thanks in no small part to winning the Open Up 2020 Challenge.
If you’re an innovator or a business with a bright idea – particularly a start-up or scale-up like us – entering a challenge prize can be transformative. There are so many upsides to taking part. If your idea isn’t quite fully formed or executed, the prize process actively provides the freedom to iterate and change direction so that you can land on a winning formula. If your idea is good enough, the prize judges will see it clearly and the rewards will come.
If you want to learn more about how challenge prizes could be part of a revitalised UK Innovation Strategy, read our report, which includes bold ideas for seven new prizes.
If you’re interested in working with us on a future prize, contact us now.
