Upgrade at $6B Valuation After $280M Series F Funding 

Credit and mobile banking platform Upgrade, Inc. on Tuesday (Nov. 16) announced it has raised $280 million in a Series F fundraising round led by Coatue Management and DST Global, and is now at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. 

Other companies participating in Upgrade’s fundraising round include Dragoneer Investment Group and existing investors Gopher Asset Management, G-Squared, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Old Well Partners, Ribbit Capital, Sands Capital, Ventura Capital and Vy Capital. 

“This new round comes just four months after our Series E and demonstrates Upgrade’s rapid growth and commitment to delivering innovative financial products that benefit consumers,” said Renaud Laplanche, co-founder and CEO of Upgrade. 

Upgrade Card “promotes responsible credit by turning every balance into a fixed-rate installment plan, and by paying rewards to cardholders as they pay down their balance,” according to the company announcement.  

Upgrade has delivered more than $10 billion in affordable credit to consumers through cards and loans since it launched in 2017 and is expected to deliver $8 billion this week.

The company debuted a Rewards Checking account with a 2% cash-back debit card reward to consumers on everyday expenses. Upgrade also recently launched the Bitcoin Rewards Card, a credit card that pays rewards in bitcoin.

The company has raised $600 million in equity capital since it was launched. Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (FT Partners) was financial and strategic advisor to Upgrade in this transaction. 

Related: Peet’s Coffee Says Debit Cards in Mobile Wallet Offers Choice, Boosts Loyalty 

The October/November edition of PYMNTS’ Next-Gen Debit Tracker® shows continued growth of mobile wallet payment methods for the next two years, with mobile contactless transactions expected to overtake contactless card transactions by 2023. 

The use of Apple Pay, PayPal and Venmo as alternatives to contactless card use is predicted to grow up to 92%, largely because of the security provided by tokenization and the increase in cross-channel payment capabilities of mobile wallets and personal wearables.