It’s been three years since we launched the Upstart lending platform, and today we’re pleased to announce we’ve raised $32.5M to take our business to the next level. The funding round was led by Rakuten, a global leader in internet services and global innovation headquartered in Japan, and by a large US-based asset manager. Existing investors Third Point Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and First Round Capital also participated. Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, Managing Partner of the Rakuten FinTech Fund, is joining Upstart’s Board of Directors.
We’re also thrilled to announce that Sanjay Datta has joined Upstart as CFO. Sanjay was formerly VP of Global Advertising Finance at Google where he spent a decade building and internationally expanding Google’s $80B core economic engine.
With more than 50,000 loans originated, Upstart has the highest consumer rating in the industry, has Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in excess of 80, and has delivered industry-leading returns to loan investors.
Leaders in Technology and Data Science for Lending
Upstart was one of the first platforms to leverage modern data science and technology to power credit decisions, automate verification, and deliver a superior borrower experience. In 2014, we were first to launch next-day funding. In the last year, we virtually eliminated loan stacking on the Upstart platform, a central cause of credit issues in online lending. Today, more than 20% of our loans are fully automated, helping us attract the best quality borrowers with a superior experience. As a result of our efforts, we’ve seen unparalleled credit performance, with 2016 cohorts our strongest yet.
2017 and Beyond!
We’ve focused considerable effort on our credit quality and loan economics, and the results speak for themselves. We aim to originate more than $1B in loans in 2017, and expect to reach cash flow profitability this year. Furthermore, we expect our first loan securitization transaction within a few months.