Pompliano Joins Board of Blockchain-Based Lending Firm After $103M Raise

Blockchain-based consumer lender Figure Technologies has added Morgan Creek Digital's Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano, one of the sector's most exuberant supporters, to its board.

Figure plans to use the funds to expand its lending products that run on a blockchain, but the Series C funding round was primarily opportunistic, said chief executive Mike Cagney.

"The company has plenty of cash from an execution standpoint," said Cagney, who previously led online consumer finance company SoFi.Morgan Creek pushed the idea of the round, and Figure agreed to it to add Pompliano on its board and secure other strategic partners, including Japan's MUFG, Cagney said.

The raise brings Figure's total funding to more than $225 million and values it at $1.2 billion, according to a company press release.

Figure has originated around $1 billion in loans, with $700 million of that being blockchain-based HELOCs.

"Figure has grown from an idea approximately two years ago to become the fourth largest HELOC originator in the United States," Pompliano said.

Provenance, a distributed blockchain with 12 node operators, is the foundation of Figure's lending products.

Figure's business model aligns with the Morgan Creek fund's investment thesis that every stock, bond, currency, and commodity will eventually be digitized, Pompliano said.

"Currently, the DTCC settles approximately $2 quadrillion of transactions annually, but their technology is not equipped to settle these digital asset transactions," he said, referring to the central securities depository for the U.S. "Figure has shown that the combination of numerous frontier technologies can significantly disrupt these markets."

In May, Figure closed a $1 billion uncommitted line of credit from investment bank Jefferies and WSFS Financial Corporation.