- Key insight: Figure has acquired Kiavi, an AI residential real estate lender, to bring more types of housing loans on-chain and expand its earning potential.
- Expert quote: "The acquisition accelerates Figure's strategy to move lending onto tokenized rails while reducing costs, improving liquidity and preserving a capital-light, high-margin model." —Mizuho analysts
- Forward look: Figure expects to close the deal in the latter half of this year and pay back the purchase price in around four years.
Figure Technology Solutions' acquisition of AI-powered real estate lender Kiavi is set to expand the blockchain-based lending fintech's total market share and provide an initial use case for its AI-powered onboarding agent.
The transaction, with a total all-cash purchase price of $717 million, was made through a newly formed joint venture between Figure and global investment firm Sixth Street. The two firms each contributed $538 million and $179 million to the deal, respectively.
"The acquisition accelerates Figure's strategy to move lending onto tokenized rails while reducing costs, improving liquidity and preserving a capital-light, high-margin model," Mizuho analysts said in a research note regarding the deal. "We believe Kiavi adds a proven, high-volume origination engine in under-penetrated investor mortgage segments, creating an immediate flywheel between loan production and blockchain distribution."
Kiavi's AI-powered platform provides real estate investors with capital to buy, renovate and/or rent investment properties. Its products include short-term residential transition loans, or RTL, and long-term rental property loans known as debt service coverage ratio, or DSCR, loans, the latter of which is also a growing product within Figure's existing portfolio. Kiavi also reported around $250 million of revenue and $100 million in EBITDA in 2025, according to a company statement.
Figure is also using the deal to tout its newest agentic AI product called Adaptor, which supports agent-to-agent onboarding for loan originations. Kiavi's assets will be Adaptor's first use case, according to the company.
"Nine months past our successful IPO, this Kiavi transaction is a further pole vault into tokenization, first-lien diversification and our agentic AI platform," said Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum. "Adding Kiavi's RTL and DSCR capabilities into our partner network will symbiotically supercharge their growth and the growth of our consumer loan marketplace."
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Figure plans to issue $600 million of senior unsecured notes to fund the deal and expects to pay back the purchase price in less than four years.
Kiavi's RTLs will be transferred to a Sixth Street-controlled joint venture upon the deal's closing, and Figure will absorb Kiavi's DSCR loans and operating platform.
Analyst coverage of the deal was overall positive, according to five different research notes reviewed by American Banker. Analysts from Needham & Company, for example, "view the creative structure [of the deal] as a logical way to acquire Kiavi's technology, human capital and underwriting platform in a balance sheet-light manner."
Needham & Company's analyst note went on to say that Kiavi is a strategic fit for Figure.
"Kiavi is a leader in RTL and DSCR loans, areas that we believe are natural extensions to Figure's core HELOC offerings and areas that the company has already been investing in," the analysts wrote. "In addition, the company has ample experience in the capital markets [with] 24 securitizations completed and is willing and able to quickly move the operating system on-Chain. Given this, we believe Figure is a natural partner and we expect the businesses to seamlessly mesh post-close."
"We view the deal favorably as it expands Figure's TAM [total addressable market] into a new category of residential transition loans at $200 billion," Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Ryan Tomasello wrote in a research note. "On a preliminary basis, we estimate that the acquisition could add roughly $180-$200 million of revenue, $60-80 million of EBITDA and $0.02-$0.07 of earnings per share, all else equal."
