Mike Cagney

Michael Cagney
Cagney in 2017
Born (1971-02-01) February 1, 1971
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Cruz
Stanford Graduate School of Business
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known for
SpouseJune Ou
Children2
Websitewww.mikecagney.com

Michael Cagney (born February 1, 1971) is an American entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of financial services company Figure Technology Solutions, a member of the founding team of Provenance Blockchain, and the co-founder and former CEO of SoFi.[1] Cagney is also co-founder and was the managing member of hedge fund Cabezon Investment Group.[2]

Career

Cagney was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Southern California. He received a degree in applied economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.[3][4] In 1994, Cagney worked as a trader with Wells Fargo before leaving in 2000 to start Finaplex, a wealth management software company that was acquired by Broadridge Financial Solutions. He then founded Cabezon Investment Group, a global macro hedge fund that manages money from family offices, before taking a Sloan Fellowship at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2010.[5][6]

In 2011, Cagney and four fellow graduate students at Stanford Graduate School of Business created SoFi as a way to lower loan costs while providing a way for alumni to invest in students.[7] Stanford ran a pilot SoFi program, seeded with $2 million from 40 alumni and disbursed to 100 graduate business students.[8] By 2013, the company had funded $200 million in loans to 2,500 borrowers at 100 eligible schools.[9] By 2015, the company was offering mortgages in more than 20 states[10] and had funded more than $4 billion in loans.[11]

In 2015, Cagney raised a private financing for SoFi of over $1 billion, led by Softbank. It was the largest private financing ever done to that point.[12]

In 2016, Cagney was named to Business Insider's Creators list of top 100 business visionaries creating value for the world.[13] By 2017, SoFi had a valuation of over $4 billion and had extended more than $20 billion in loans.[14] The company had also expanded its services to include mortgages, personal loans, wealth management services and life insurance.[15]

In September 2017, Cagney left SoFi after several workplace controversies, including allegations of misconduct and presiding over a toxic work environment.[16][17] At the time of his resignation, Cagney said that the litigation and ensuing media coverage made his presence a distraction to the company’s mission.[16]

In 2018, Cagney and his wife, June Ou, co-founded fin-tech startup Figure Technology Solutions, which builds marketplaces to trade and finance blockchain-native assets.[18] Figure was the first company to put consumer loans on the blockchain.[19] The company has raised over $400 million since its launch with a valuation of $3.2 billion in 2021.[20] As of 2019, the company had raised over $225 million and was valued at $1.2 billion.[21] By 2020, the company began offering securitizations backed by Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC), including the largest bond backed by a HELOC in over a decade.[17] In August 2021, Figure Technology Solutions agreed to merge with Homebridge Financial Services, a mortgage lender.[22] In June 2022, the merger was cancelled.[23] In March 2024, Figure Technology Solutions spun off its lending division by establishing a new parent entity, Figure Technology Solutions (FTS).[24] The company has funded over $16 billion in loans, reporting $340 million in revenue.[25] In 2024, Cagney split Figure into two companies, Figure and Figure Markets.[24] He became chairman of Figure and CEO of Figure Markets.[26][27] Cagney raised $60 million for Figure Markets in a round led by Pantera and Faction with participation from Jump Crypto, Distributed Global, and other investors.[28][29]

In 2025, the companies recombined, purportedly to go public. Cagney is executive chairman of the recombined company.[25] In the same year, Figure Markets went effective with the SEC as the first public security, a fixed-income stablecoin called $YLDS.[30] Figure Markets also launched a DeFi lending protocol called Democratized Prime in 2025, directly connecting lenders and borrowers.[31] In September 2025, Figure went public on Nasdaq under the ticker FIGR. The company is valued at $7.6 billion.[32]

Cagney and Ou also founded Provenance Blockchain, a public proof-of-stake Layer 1 (L1) chain. In 2025, Provenance Blockchain was the largest public blockchain measured by real-world assets.[33]

Other activities

In 2024, Cagney was part of a group bidding to lift Celsius out of bankruptcy, but the bid was not successful.[34] He later went on to support an activist campaign against the emerging public company, Ionic Digital.[35] The campaign successfully claimed two board seats.[36] Cagney also bid to rescue FTX from bankruptcy.[37]

Cagney has written about his belief that stablecoins and the GENIUS Act will ultimately lead to narrow banking and support blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi).[38]

Personal life

Cagney is married, with two children.[6]

References

  1. ^ Connie Loizos, "SoFi founder Mike Cagney’s already well-funded new startup is raising another $100 million," TechCrunch, December 1, 2019.
  2. ^ McGrath, Maggie (April 26, 2021). "Student Debt As An Asset Class: A $1 Trillion Opportunity?". Forbes.
  3. ^ McLannahan, Ben (May 2, 2016). "Upstart lender SoFi maintains its bravado as fintech fever cools". Financial Times.
  4. ^ Andy Kessler, "The Uberization of Banking," The Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2016.
  5. ^ Cohan, Peter (May 15, 2012). "SoFi's Mike Cagney Wants to Fix Student Loans". Forbes. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Popper, Nathaniel; Benner, Katie (September 12, 2017). "'It Was a Frat House': Inside the Sex Scandal That Toppled SoFi's C.E.O." The New York Times.
  7. ^ David Goll, "Stanford grads launch student loan program," Silicon Valley Business Journal, April 6, 2012.
  8. ^ Ann Carrns, "SoFi Tapping Alumni to Help With Student Loans," The New York Times, April 3, 2012.
  9. ^ Peter Renton, "SoFi Adding Leverage For Their Alumni Investors," Lend Academy, September 24, 2013.
  10. ^ Jody Shenn and Dakin Campbell, "SoFi CEO Sees $4 Billion of Loans as Startup Seeks Mortgages," Bloomberg News, March 10, 2015.
  11. ^ "A startup out to displace Wall Street banks just hired ex-SEC chairman Arthur Levitt," Business Insider, September 9, 2015.
  12. ^ "SoftBank leads $1B investment in US fintech startup SoFi". CNBC. October 1, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  13. ^ Martin, Emmie (June 13, 2016). "Meet the top 100 business visionaries creating value for the world". Business Insider. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  14. ^ Peter Rudegeair, "In Second Act, a Silicon Valley CEO Opens Up About Affairs," The Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2018.
  15. ^ Anna Irrera, "Ex-SoFi CEO Cagney's startup debuts digital home equity loans," Reuters, October 9, 2018.
  16. ^ a b "Online lender SoFi CEO Cagney to step down," Reuters, September 11, 2017.
  17. ^ a b Tempkin, Adam (September 3, 2020). "Former SoFi CEO Cagney Sells Biggest Heloc-Backed Bond in Decade". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  18. ^ Selina Wang, "SoFi's Former CEO Harnesses the Blockchain for Home Loan Startup," Bloomberg News, April 30, 2018.
  19. ^ "Figure Technologies Securitizes $150M of Home Equity Loans on Blockchain". CoinDesk. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  20. ^ "Figure Raises $200M, Valuing Blockchain Mortgage Firm at $3.2B". CoinDesk. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  21. ^ Connie Loizos, "Mike Cagney is right now testing the boundaries of the US banking system," TechCrunch, December 4, 2020.
  22. ^ Katherine Chiglinsky, "Cagney’s Figure Agrees to Merge with Lender Homebridge," Bloomberg News, August 3, 2021.
  23. ^ Nunes, Flávia Furlan. "Figure and Homebridge cancel planned merger". HousingWire. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  24. ^ a b "New Parent for Figure Lending". Home Equity Lending News. March 18, 2024. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  25. ^ a b Risley, Eric (July 20, 2025). "Figure Technology Solutions to Merge with Figure Markets". Architect Partners. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  26. ^ Doherty, Katherine (April 23, 2024). "Mike Cagney's Figure Technology Taps Tannenbaum as Its New CEO". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  27. ^ Baxter, Brian (September 4, 2024). "Cagney-Founded Figure, Looking Toward IPO, Hires Legal Chief". Bloomberg Law.
  28. ^ Kumar, Ravi (March 18, 2024). "SoFi founder Mike Cagney's Figure Markets Raises $60M to Build "Everything Marketplace"". AlexaBlockchain. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  29. ^ FinSMEs (March 19, 2024). "Figure Markets Raises Over $60M in Series A Funding". FinSMEs. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  30. ^ Weiss, Ben. "Figure gains SEC approval for first interest-bearing stablecoin launch". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  31. ^ "DeFi securitisation breakthrough? | Asset-Backed Finance utilises securitisation technology to finance esoteric assets and provide customised solutions to unique situations. It is also known as Specialty Finance and Structured Private Credit. | Structured Credit Investor". www.structuredcreditinvestor.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  32. ^ Bhandari, Ateev; Basil, Arasu Kannagi; Basil, Arasu Kannagi (September 12, 2025). "Blockchain lender Figure valued at $7.6 billion as shares jump in Nasdaq debut". Reuters. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  33. ^ Gapusan, Jeff. "Provenance Blockchain Foundation Announces $50 Million Grant Program". Forbes. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  34. ^ Kim, Connie. "Figure partners with NovaWulf on proposed reorg of Celsius". HousingWire. Retrieved September 4, 2025.
  35. ^ Biswas, Soma (September 6, 2024). "Celsius Network Customers Launch Effort to Oust Mining Spinoff's Board". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved September 4, 2025.
  36. ^ Vejseli, Veton (May 22, 2025). "Delaware Court Finds That Ionic Digital Directors Breached Fiduciary Duties".
  37. ^ Saeedy, Alexander Osipovich and Alexander. "The Crypto Reboot That Wasn't: Why 'FTX 2.0' Floundered". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 4, 2025.
  38. ^ "Blockchain can kill interchange, says Figure CEO | Mike Cagney posted on the topic | LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
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