SAN JOSE, Calif.–The former chief and co-founder of Social Finance (SoFI) has quickly raised money for a new start-up that specializes in home equity lending and which has already made its first loans.
Mike Cagney, who departed SoFi in 2017 following accusations and lawsuits from former employees that managers sexually harassed female employees without repercussions, and who has responded by acknowledging he had what he said were consensual sexual relationships with female subordinates, has launched Figure Technologies Inc. It has already hired around 90 employees and raised $58 million in venture capital, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Cagney said he has built a mostly female executive leadership team at Figure, including its chief risk officer and its general counsel. His wife and co-founder, June Ou, serves as the company’s chief technology officer, a role she previously held at SoFi.
According to the Journal, investors expect Cagney’s new company to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $150 million in 2020. Figure is launching its own blockchain to host loan-related documents and planning to offer its own virtual currency to investors later this year, Cagney told the publication.
Meanwhile, SoFi, which specializes in student loan refinancing and which Cagney and some classmates at Stanford launched, continues to grow. It is valued at more than $4 billion and has extended more than $20 billion in loans.