By Paul R. La Monica
Figure Technology Solutions is the latest tech company to benefit from investors' newfound (and apparently insatiable) appetite for initial public offerings. Shares surged more than 40% in their market debut, valuing the company at more than $7 billion.
Figure, a company that uses blockchain technology to help generate home equity lines of credit, also known as Heloc, said that its IPO was priced at $25 a share late Wednesday.
The stock began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker symbol FIGR and opened at $36 a share, a 44% increase from the offering price. Shares cooled slightly to hover around $32, still up more than 25%, in mid-afternoon trading.
The company is valued at $7.6 billion at the $36 opening price. At the $25 offering price -- which was above the expected range of $20 to $22 a share -- Figure raised $787.5 million.
Figure joins a growing list of unicorns taking advantage of the record run on Wall Street for the stock market, and tech stocks in particular.
Buy-now, pay-later lending company Klarna Group made its stock market debut Wednesday and rose nearly 15% from its IPO price. Stablecoin provider Circle Internet Group, design software firm Figma, and cryptocurrency exchange Bullish have also enjoyed solid debuts in recent months. Next up? Gemini Space Station, the crypto firm run by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. It will begin trading Friday.
"We are seeing optimism return to the IPO markets and it's broader than just the AI theme," said Michael Bayer, an adjunct lecturer of finance at Babson College and executive vice president and CFO of Wasabi Technologies, a data storage firm. "It feels like there is a substantial backlog of really high quality tech companies."
Figure might also benefit from the hype around digital assets. The company uses its Figure Connect blockchain-enabled platform to match buyers and sellers of home-equity loans. Figure also runs a digital asset exchange that lets customers trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top digital assets.
It's a lucrative business. While several other recent IPOs aren't yet making money, Figure reported revenue of $340.9 million last year, up nearly 63% from 2023, and net income of $19.9 million versus a loss of $52.4 million a year earlier. Revenue grew another 22% in the first half of 2025, to $190.6 million, and Figure posted a profit of $29.4 million in that span.
Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum said in an interview with Barron's that mortgage companies, banks, credit unions and tech firms are using Figure's blockchain technology to generate loans.
"We're helping to add a lot of liquidity into these consumer markets," Tannenbaum said, adding that the company is "excited about the opportunities that growth could unlock."
Like many lenders, Figure generates sales from a mix of fees (primarily to originate and service loans) as well as from interest income and the sale of Heloc loans. That stability in its revenue stream might be one of the reasons Figure has already attracted a top-notch investor.
Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office has indicated that it will buy up to $50 million of Figure at the offering price. Tannenbaum told Barron's that "Stan and Duquesne are amazing investors" who are interested in the "democratized and decentralized aspect of us as a lender."
Several other newly public companies are finding there's interest from traditional Wall Street powerhouses.
Nasdaq is investing $50 million in Gemini, while asset management giant Wellington intends to purchase $100 million worth of shares in Via Transportation, a public transit software company that, like Gemini, is also expected begin trading on Friday.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2025 13:47 ET (17:47 GMT)
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