As I come up on my first 100 days in my new role as Figure CEO, I’m taking a moment to reflect on some of the highlights, progress and focus areas I’ve been talking about with our team and external partners.
In just a few years, Figure has become the number one non-bank HELOC provider, in large part by getting the capital markets and regulators supportive of our modern approach. It’s thrilling to join the team at such a pivotal moment in the company’s growth.
The tl;dr: We’re maximizing the value of homeownership in ways that benefit the industry and consumers alike – and doing it while creating a first-of-its kind capital markets ecosystem. Given our obsession with bringing down housing costs, expect to see a lot more coming from us.
For today, I’ll focus on four areas – people, products & partnerships, technology and financial stewardship.
People: Investing in our team for this next chapter of growth
A highly engaged, high performing team underpins it all. I’ve loved spending time in our offices getting to know the team, listening in on prospect/customer calls and getting candid feedback. I’m a huge fan of promoting from within and this team makes it easy to do so. Among our recent internal promotion and mobility moves: Barron Ernst moved from marketing to the head of Product role, Nicole Beaulieu was promoted to CTO, and Jay Edwards was promoted to VP, Finance.
We’re also focused on strengthening the team in certain areas; for example, we’ll be initiating a CFO search (public company experience is table stakes given our ambitions).
Technology
In June we announced our first trade on Figure Connect – our disruptive marketplace that pairs our embedded origination partners with capital markets buyers. This was a huge milestone for our business as it represents the first step towards our goal of developing a robust, liquid marketplace for private credit, starting with HELOC but expanding quickly into other credit products. We expect Figure Connect to represent a meaningful portion of our business by year end. The launch and vision we put forth are driving record interest in our platform, as partners realize our increasingly powerful value proposition.
We’ve surpassed $10B in funded loans to more than 140k households and are continuing to lower the cost to originate as we drive more volume to Figure Connect.
Figure Connect was months in the making, long before my arrival. It came on the heels of our DART launch – a streamlined electronic note and lien registry that’s bringing greater efficiency and transparency to Figure’s lending partners and the broader mortgage industry. You will see us continue to launch innovative technology products that enhance the value proposition of Figure Connect on both sides of the marketplace: originator and buyer.
As we look ahead, we’ll continue to eliminate legacy infrastructure and time-consuming processes that bog down traditional lending transactions and distract from delightful customer experiences while driving more volume to Figure Connect.
Partnerships and Products
We have more than 110 embedded relationships, including half of the top 20 mortgage lenders. Partnerships currently account for more than 60% of our originations. Yet, we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re continuing to add relationships and expand our reach; for example, Solar is becoming our fastest growing area.
On the product front, expect to see:
Greater availability of our HELOC product: we’re now in 47 states and Washington, DC. We’re moving quickly to expand to remaining states and will have announcements shortly.
An expanded suite of lending products that meets more home buying and liquidity needs.
Financial Stewardship
Given my longtime experience in partnerships, capital markets and as a CFO, I’m naturally drawn to future-proofing our business – ensuring both cash flow and compliance. A few takeaways:
We’re building a strong, rate-agnostic business with products, origination channels and technology that can thrive in any economic environment.
Our best-in-class capital markets execution on our HELOC assets is driving record profitability.
It’s incredible to see the progress Figure’s made since its founding in 2018 – though in some ways it still feels like very early innings. There’s that much potential ahead. I may be biased, but it feels like I’ve joined at the most exciting time. Huge thank you to Jackie Frommer, TJ Milani, Todd Stevens, co-founders Mike Cagney and June Ou, and all employees past and present for getting Figure here.
Thank you as well to our investors, partners, customers and all Friends of Figure. I’m honored to be on this journey with you.
Michael
