Technology

Figure’s IPO filing marks Mike Cagney’s return to public markets

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Figure Technology, a seven-year-old blockchain-based lending company, has filed for an IPO of its Class A common stock on Nasdaq, with Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and BofA Securities serving as its lead bookrunners.

The number of shares on offer and price range have not yet been determined.

Figure says in its IPO paperwork that its revenue rose 22.4% to $191 million in the six months ended June 30, and that it reported a profit of $29 million in the same period, compared with a loss of $13 million a year earlier.

The filing offers a chance at vindication for Figure co-founder Mike Cagney, who previously built SoFi before leaving the personal finance platform in 2017 following sexual harassment allegations. SoFi went public in 2021 via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger and has done pretty well as a public company — its stock is up over 200% in the past year, and its revenue rose 44% in the second quarter of 2025.

Since its founding in 2018 , Figure has established itself as one of the bigger players in blockchain-based lending, claiming more than 160 partners for its loan origination system and capital marketplace. Figure claims to be the largest non-bank provider of home equity lines of credit.

The company, which Cagney founded with his wife June Ou, uses blockchain technology through its Provenance blockchain to speed along approvals for home equity loans, mortgage refinancing, and student and personal loans.

In May, Figure said it was also expanding into cryptocurrency lending, signing a financing agreement with Victory Park Capital for what Figure described as the industry’s first securitized pool of crypto-backed loans. That product allows asset owners to borrow against their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings with loan-to-value ratios up to 75%.

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Terms of that deal with Victory Park were not disclosed.

Cagney has a history of ambitious regulatory moves. As TechCrunch reported in late 2020, during the last days of the first Trump administration, Figure applied for a U.S. national bank charter that would have let it accept uninsured deposits exceeding $250,000 from accredited investors while avoiding traditional FDIC and Federal Reserve oversight. The approach could have established a template for other fintech and retail companies to obtain non-traditional bank charters and offer lucrative financial products while avoiding such oversight, but Figure withdrew its application last year amid broader fintech industry challenges.

The company has undergone major leadership and organizational changes in the meantime. In April 2024, Figure appointed Michael Tannenbaum, former COO of Brex, as CEO. Tannenbaum previously worked with Cagney as SoFi’s chief revenue officer.

And in an unusual corporate maneuver, Cagney spun off Figure Markets in early 2024, creating a standalone digital asset exchange for crypto trading, crypto-backed loans, and stablecoins. But just over a year later, in July, Figure reversed course and smooshed the two entities back together.

The company says the strategy positions it to capture a huge and growing opportunity in real-world asset tokenization. (Real-world asset tokenization involves converting traditional assets like mortgages, real estate, or loans — even art — into digital tokens that can be traded on blockchain networks. Heavyweight financial players like BlackRock and JPMorgan are among those who have recently entered the space.)

It’s worth noting that this is not Figure’s first attempt at going public. The company previously planned to list via a merger with a SPAC called Figure Acquisition Corp, but the deal got scrapped due to rising interest rates and redemption rates, among other challenges. The blank check company was later delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

Figure, whose backers include Apollo Global Management and Ribbit Capital, also failed to complete a planned merger with mortgage lender Homebridge Financial Services in 2022, citing regulatory delays 10 months after the tie-up was announced.

The IPO filing is no surprise to industry observers. For one, Figure — which last raised $200 million in 2021 at a $3.2 billion valuation — announced weeks ago that it had filed a confidential statement for an IPO. Further, the timing aligns with a growing wave of crypto-related companies seeking public listings, encouraged by the wildly successful debut of Circle Internet Group back in June, and the Trump administration’s full-bodied support for the cryptocurrency sector and related legislation.

Circle’s shares soared more than 500% in their first two weeks on the public market. Crypto exchange Bullish has added to the momentum as its shares more than doubled on its first day of trading last week.

On Friday, the Winklevoss twins’ crypto exchange Gemini filed for an IPO despite reporting a $282.5 million net loss in the first half of 2025.



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