Ex-SoFi CEO Mike Cagney’s new startup, Figure, is out of stealth

SoFi cofounder Mike Cagney, who resigned as CEO last year, has been quietly working on a new project involving home improvement financing and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) for the last several months. Now, that project is out of stealth, with a live website: Figure.com. According to Cagney’s LinkedIn profile, the startup plans to leverage blockchain-based technology and AI “to unlock new access points for consumer credit products that can transform the financial lives of our customers.”

Figure’s homepage offers few details about products in the works, but it does reveal that the company is hiring for 11 open positions, in addition to the dozen-plus roles that Cagney has already filled.

More and more startups are looking to mortgages and beyond as a source of opportunity. Atlanta-based GreenSky, which specializes in home improvement loans, is worth $4.5 billion. Meanwhile, Cagney’s former company, SoFi, has expanded into mortgages, joining online players LendingHome, loanDepot, and more. The mortgage industry as a whole generates $1.8 trillion in origination volume each year.