Cody Pickens for Forbes
Technology has transformed some parts of the daunting homebuying process–making it easier to search and compare properties online, to prepare closing documents and title insurance and to service mortgages.
But even the wizards of fintech can’t change the basics: With mortgage rates still hovering near a two decade high and home prices at a record high, sales of existing homes in 2024 fell to their lowest level since 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors.
For the third year in a row, only two real estate companies made the Fintech 50 list, compared to five in 2023. Valon, one of the two on the 2025 list, is a true survivor—making its fourth straight appearance on the list. The cloud-based mortgage servicer platform has continued to prove its worth with CEO/cofounder Andrew Wang, just 32, at the helm. In 2024, its revenues grew to $50 million, from $30 million the year before, and it completed a $100 million Series C fundraise at a $1.1 billion valuation. The platform not only automates payments, but also lets borrowers see their balances online.
The other real estate honoree is Aven, a newcomer to the Fintech 50 list that already has a $1 billion valuation. It has quickly set itself apart from competitors with a somewhat controversial product: home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) that can be tapped via a credit card. Interest rates are lower than on typical credit cards, but the catch is that your home is your collateral.
This is potentially a huge market; whereas home sales are at a 20 year low, owners’ home equity is at an all time high. The approval process for a normal HELOC can be painful and take weeks on end. But Aven’s automated approval process takes minutes and a credit card arrives at a borrower’s front door in a matter of days. So far the company has more than 30,000 borrowers (most earning at least $100,000 a year) and hit $200 million in revenue on an annualized basis at the end of 2024.
Falling off the list: Groundfloor Finance Inc. which was a newcomer on the 2024 list. The company, which creates loan packages for residential real estate developers, which retail teams can invest in for next to nothing, had a stagnant 2024.
Here are the two real estate companies that made Fintech 50 2025:
Aven
Aven issues home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) that can be tapped via a credit card. With consumers’ homes as collateral, the company’s cards offer a lower interest rate than on normal, unsecured credit cards, while its data and tech shrink the normal HELOC approval time. The application process can be completed in minutes, and the cards typically arrive within a week. Typical customers are high earners who make over $100,000 and have high credit scores. The billion-dollar company launched in 2020 after CEO Sadi Khan spent 18 months developing the product.
Headquarters: Campbell, California
Funding: $288 million from Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital and Max Levchin, among others.
Latest valuation: $1 billion.
Date of last valuation: April 2024.
Bona fides: The company has more than 30,000 customers and hit $200 million in revenue on an annualized basis in 2024.
Cofounders: CEO Sadi Khan, 39; Murtada Shah, 43; Collin Wikman, 37; and Usman Ghani. Khan spent over a decade at Microsoft and Meta before launching Aven in 2020.
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Valon
This cloud-based mortgage-servicing platform automates payments and allows borrowers to see their balance and other information about their loans online. Its customers include Rithm Capital, Marlin Mortgage and Seneca Mortgage Servicing. Valon completed a $100 million Series C funding round at the end of 2024, bringing total capital raised to $220 million. The vertically integrated company is now planning to accelerate product development and expansion.
Headquarters: New York, New York
Funding: $220 million from Westcap, a16z and Rithm, among others.
Latest valuation: $1.1 billion.
Date of last valuation: July 2024.
Bona fides: Valon’s revenue grew from $30 million in 2023 to $50 million in 2024.
Cofounders: CEO Andrew Wang, 32, previously at Goldman Sachs and Google; CTO Jon Hsu, 32, formerly a software engineer at Twilio; both were on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2023.
Forbes