Upgrade has raised a total amount of $200m since inception. The company aims to use the capital to accelerate the growth of Upgrade Card, and to support the upcoming launch of Upgrade Account
Fremont, CA: Upgrade, a San Francisco-based neobank that provides credit to mainstream consumers, closed $40m in the Series D funding round. The round was led by Santander InnoVentures, the venture capital fund of Santander Group, with active participation from existing investors Ribbit, Vy Capital, Union Square Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and new investors Ventura Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Chris Gottschalk, senior advisor at Santander InnoVentures, is expected to join the Upgrade board, soon. The company has raised a total amount of $200m since inception.
The company aims to use the capital to accelerate the growth of Upgrade Card, and to support the upcoming launch of Upgrade Account.
"We're excited to support Upgrade in their next stage of growth. Upgrade is building a neobank with credit at its heart, which we believe is a smart strategy as credit represents 70 percent of banking revenue globally and is often the main reason customers seek banking services," commented Chris Gottschalk, senior adviser at Santander Innoventures.
Upgrade, led by co-founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche, is a neobank that provides credit to mainstream consumers through personal loans and cards, along with free credit monitoring and education tools that guide consumers to understand and manage their finances. Upgrade Card comes with an innovative credit card that brings the low cost and responsible credit of installment lending to millions of retail locations in the US. Upgrade Card is issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Upgrade Account is a mobile banking product provided to mainstream consumers.
Upgrade has delivered over $3 billion in consumer credit through loans and cards since launch in 2017. The company has its headquarter in San Francisco, California, with a technology center in Montreal, Canada, and an operations center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Personal credit lines and personal loans are issued by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey State Chartered Commercial Bank, Equal Housing Lender, Member FDIC, and Blue Ridge Bank, National Association.
