Aven gets funding for credit card backed by home equity

Financial technology company Aven received a $142 million series D round of funding for its new credit card product.

Aven, founded in 2019 by Sadi Khan, Collin Wikman, and Murtada Shah, is developing consumer credit cards backed by home equity.

The latest round of funding comes from Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors, including Caffeinated Capital, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, and The General Partnership.

Their first product — the Aven Home Card — allows homeowners to access their home equity in minutes, starting at $0, with all the benefits of a traditional credit card.

Since launching in California in 2022, the company has issued over $1.5 billion in credit lines for the Aven Home Card. It has earned a 4.9-star rating on Trustpilot and has saved customers over $100 million in interest payments to date.

“We believe there’s no reason for anyone who owns an asset and has good credit history to use unsecured credit. Full stop. Unsecured credit is expensive and unhealthy,” Khan, co-founder and CEO of Aven, said. “With our asset-backed credit cards, we give consumers credit for what they own – saving them thousands of dollars without sacrificing convenience.”

Among the features of the card, customers save 50 percent or more on monthly interest rates. With rates as low as 7.99 percent APR, it has the lowest APR of any credit card in the United States. Also, there is no annual fee with 2 percent unlimited cashback and 7 percent cashback on hotels booked in the Aven travel portal.

It offers credit lines up to $250,000 and approval takes less than 5 minutes while closing can be done as fast as 15 minutes.

Last year, Aven tripled its revenue and broadened its offering to include a free, mobile-first financial advisory tool, Aven Advisor. The tool already has amassed over 160,000 members.

The latest round of funding will be used to roll out Aven’s Home Card in all 50 states, scale Advisor, and expand into new categories, including auto-backed cards, mortgage refinance, and more.

“By using technology to drive efficiency, Aven has built a product that responsibly helps drive down the cost of capital by over 50% for most US homeowners who are using alternative credit cards,” Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures said.

The company also formed an advisory board to guide its growth. The board consists of Michael DeVito, former CEO of Freddie Mac; Tim Mayopoulos, former CEO of Fannie Mae; Jim Messina, former Deputy Chief of Staff during the Obama administration; and Kevin Warsh, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

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. Its goal is to reach all 50 states by 2025.

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