Aven

Aven is a San Francisco–based consumer fintech company that issues a credit card backed by the cardholder's home equity. The product combines the mechanics of a HELOC with the usability of a credit card: applicants complete a fully digital application, can be approved in as little as five minutes, and complete closing in roughly 15 minutes, versus traditional HELOC processes that can take a month and involve substantial paperwork and fees. As of July 2025 the card carried an APR range of 7.49%–14.99% with credit lines of $5,000 to $250,000 and unlimited 2% cash back, with the company positioning borrowing costs as up to 50% lower than typical unsecured credit cards.

Beyond the flagship Home Equity Visa card, Aven's site lists Home Equity Cash, a Rewards Visa card, Flexible Cash, High-Yield Checking and a Bitcoin Visa card, plus partnership channels for home improvement/solar providers and mortgage lenders and brokers. Aven Advisor is a free mobile financial insights product offering weekly credit scores and reports, recurring-subscription detection, net worth, home and car valuation tracking, and neighborhood home price data; it is operated under the entity Aven Credit Builder Inc. at 548 Market St, San Francisco.

The company describes its longer-term objective as building a full-service "machine banking" platform based on automation, patented robotics and large-scale machine learning, extending asset-backed underwriting beyond home equity into additional asset classes and, as announced in September 2025, into mortgage refinancing.

Founding story

Aven was founded in June 2019 by Sadi Khan (CEO), Murtada Shah (co-founder) and Collin Wikman (head of design). Khan, a University of Waterloo computer engineering graduate, worked as a program manager at Microsoft and then at Facebook from 2013, where he led search and mapping projects and served as lead product manager for Internet.org. Shah, an electrical and computer engineering graduate of the University of Alberta, previously founded Serene Technologies and co-founded ETA Holdings. Wikman, a UC Santa Cruz economics graduate, was previously Design Director at Square and Head of Design at Remind. After leaving Facebook in 2019, Khan examined the gap between high-interest credit cards and untapped home equity, reading the 850-page Dodd-Frank Act and consulting the law firm Arnold & Porter, which indicated no legal prohibition on a home-equity-backed card. The founders spent five months studying the space and nearly two years building infrastructure before launching in California in 2022.

Business model

Aven originates revolving credit lines secured by residential home equity, delivered through a Visa credit card. Cards are issued by Coastal Community Bank under a Visa license, with Aven providing the technology, underwriting and servicing layer. The company charges no annual, sign-up, origination or prepayment fees on its home equity card and instead earns from interest on drawn balances; it also funds itself through capital markets, having completed rated securitization transactions and reached a AAA investment rating within 10 months of its first rated deal. A free consumer app, Aven Advisor, offers credit scores, subscription tracking and home/car valuation, serving as a top-of-funnel and engagement product.

Revenue is generated primarily from interest on drawn home-equity-secured credit lines rather than card fees, since the home equity card carries no annual, sign-up, origination or prepayment fees. External research reported approximately $100 million in annualized revenue as of July 2024. Aven funds and offloads originations through capital markets securitizations.

Traction

Company and press-release figures as of September 2025: more than $3 billion in aggregate credit lines issued, over $215 million in cumulative interest savings for customers, 3x year-over-year customer growth, a 4.9/5 rating across 10,271 reviews on its site, and a AAA investment rating achieved 10 months after its first rated transaction. Earlier third-party data for July 2024 recorded over $1.5 billion in credit lines, 33,000 cardholders and $100 million in annualized revenue; headcount was reported at 133 as of July 2025.

Latest developments

On September 9, 2025, Aven announced a $110 million Series E at a $2.2 billion post-money valuation led by Khosla Ventures, with existing investors General Catalyst, Caffeinated Capital, GIC, Electric Capital and Founders Fund participating. Concurrently it announced expansion into mortgage refinancing, reported 3x year-over-year customer growth, more than $3 billion in aggregate credit lines, over $215 million in cumulative customer interest savings, and a AAA investment rating obtained 10 months after its first rated transaction. It also expanded its advisory board with Lawrence H. Summers and Patrick McHenry.