Consumer finance fintech Upgrade has raised $165 million in its latest funding round, marking its first external financing in nearly four years. The round valued the company at $7.3 billion pre-money, representing a 21.7% increase from its previous valuation. The funding was led by investment firm Neuberger, which also purchases loans from Upgrade, with Neuberger’s Head of Specialty Finance, Peter Sterling, joining Upgrade’s board of directors. Existing investors DST Global and Ribbit Capital also participated in the round.
Upgrade CEO Renaud Laplanche said the company is preparing for a potential initial public offering within 12 to 18 months. “We’re probably 12 to 18 months away from an IPO, so we wanted to give the team members some liquidity before IPO,” he stated. Founded in 2017, Upgrade has issued over $42 billion in consumer credit across mobile banking, credit cards, and financing services. "We switched a lot of focus from traditional search engine optimization to AI search optimization," Laplanch added.
