AI Lender Upstart Unveils Auto Retail Platform

Artificial intelligence (AI) lender Upstart has launched a mobile-first auto retail platform, the company announced in a news release Wednesday (March 9).

The Upstart Auto Retail platform is due to be showcased at the National Automobile Dealers Association Show (NADA) in Las Vegas on Friday, at which time Upstart will also announce new OEM (original equipment manufacturer) support and certification.

“Dealers on our online platform see 66% of their traffic come from mobile devices,” said Michia Rohrssen, general manager of Upstart Auto Retail. “If you want to deliver the modern buying experience that today’s car buyers expect, you absolutely need a world class mobile experience.”

Rohrssen added that because car buying isn’t always linear, Upstart designed the platform to adapt to customers’ mobile use, while giving dealers more options to customize for each variety of shopper and the pace of their purchasing.

Based in San Mateo, California, Upstart’s AI leverages more than 1,000 variable and advanced machine learning algorithms, providing greater automation and more accurate risk-based pricing. This allows lenders to approve more borrowers at the same loss rate as traditional FICO score-based models, the company said.

Learn more: Upstart’s Triple-Digit Growth Shows AI-Based Lending’s Heady Pace

Upstart rolled out AI-powered auto financing last year to allow dealerships to offer financing to more customers. The company said adoption of its platform grew fourfold last year, with dealers using the platform to sell $4 billion worth of vehicles.

Six OEMs now support the platform, the company said: VW, Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Kia. The company said it is due to release a device-agnostic in-store platform and make its AI-powered financing available to more customers in the U.S. later this year.

Upstart went public through an initial public offering in 2020. Last year, the company reported triple-digit growth, with revenue increasing 250% year-over-year to $228.4 million and transaction volume rising 241% to $3.1 billion.