Upstart, Millennial Lender, Closes $32M To License Its Tech To Third Parties

In the age of various tech startups raising money at a rapid rate, a company like Upstart may just be one of the more successful endeavors.

Upstart, an online lending company, just announced its $32 million round of funding. This brings its total amount raised to $85 million. The company, which prides itself on determining which loan recipients are worthwhile, sees this money fueling its future growth and helping to license the technology to banks, credit unions and retailers.

Upstart’s CEO Dave Girouard, who served as the former president of Google Enterprise, discussed the company’s value proposition with TechCrunch and how the company differentiates itself. “It’s very similar in nature to any SaaS business; it’s the whole idea of people saying, ‘We’re not going to try to build something ourselves.’ We’re strongly on the tech and data science end of the spectrum. We don’t come from financial services, as do a lot of other [lending] companies. We apply very modern data science to the question of who gets a loan and at what price; that’s the heart of what we’re known for,” he said.

Moving more than $650 million in its first nearly three years of business, Upstart is aiming to lend out $1 billion this year. Although the company self-funds to a certain extend for its loans, Upstart is working with large financial institutions like Goldman Sachs.

As more devices become connected, it’s likely that we’ll see a continuation of tech startups launched via borrowing money from companies like Upstart. With this company licensing its tech to third parties, more money will be moving at a faster rate, with the potential to jumpstart the economy of the future.