Aven, a financial technology company that offers consumer credit cards backed by the value of homes, announced it has closed a $142 million Series D funding round led by Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst.

The latest investment in Aven positions the company as a unicorn as it aims to offer the world’s first equity-based credit cards to homeowners in all 50 U.S. states.

Aven’s credit card product is designed to help homeowners reduce their credit card interest rates by up to 50% by using their home equity in an efficient and responsible manner.

In addition to co-lead investors Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst in Aven’s Series D round, existing investors include Caffeinated Capital, Electric Capital, Founders Fund and The General Partnership.

Aven: A Five-Year Journey to Rapid, Sustained Growth

Founded in 2019, Aven has rocketed to unicorn status in just five years. The company was founded by Sadi Khan, Collin Wikman, and Murtada Shah, former product, design, and engineering executives at Facebook and Square.

Indeed, it wasn’t until 2022 that Aven first launched, underscoring the pace of its impressive growth. Today, Aven’s mission is to provide its consumers with the lowest cost and easiest access to capital.

The first product, Aven Home Card, allows homeowners to access their home value in minutes – starting at $0 – while retaining all the benefits of a traditional credit card.

In the two years since its launch, Aven has extended more than $1.5 billion in credit lines for its Home Card, saving customers more than $100 million in interest payments to date.

Sadi Khan, co-founder and CEO of Aven, says: “We believe there is no reason for someone who owns an asset and has a good credit history to use unsecured credit. Period. Unsecured credit is expensive and unhealthy.

“With our asset-based credit cards, we give consumers credit for what they own, helping them save thousands of dollars without sacrificing convenience.”

Aven: Broadening the product range

Amid its successful growth, Aven has launched a range of new financial products to match. After tripling revenue in 2023, the fintech startup launched a free, mobile-first financial advice tool: Aven Advisor. Today, the tool has more than 160,000 members.

With its latest investment, Aven aims to offer the Aven Home Card in all 50 U.S. states, scale its advisory tool and expand into new industries including auto-backed cards and mortgage refinancing.

Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures added: “By using technology to drive efficiency, Aven has developed a product that responsibly helps reduce the cost of capital by more than 50% for most U.S. homeowners who use alternative credit cards.”

Aven also announced the creation of an advisory board, which will focus on increasing the company’s scalability, protecting the interests of cardholders and providing insight into industry conditions and strategic opportunities.

The Aven Advisory Board will consist of four directors: Michael DeVito, former CEO of Freddie Mac; Tim Mayopoulos, former CEO of Fannie Mae; Jim Messina, former White House deputy chief of staff under the Obama administration; and Kevin Warsh, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

New board member Kevin Warsh added: “I was blown away by the Aven team when I first met them a few years ago. However, I was initially skeptical that their core product would scale in the austere, sclerotic industry structure that has dominated the mortgage market for decades. The Aven team is proving the skeptics wrong in a big way. I’m thrilled to be their partner.”

Aven is currently available in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey , New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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