Renaud Laplanche, CEO & Co-Founder of Upgrade - Launching the Fastest Growing Card in the US

Published: Oct. 4, 2021, 5 a.m.

Anirudh Singh sits down with Renaud Laplanche, CEO and Co-founder of Upgrade. In this episode they discuss:\n\n- Launching Upgrade after the success of Lending Club\n- Upgrade's unique product offering, including bitcoin rewards and debit card rewards\n- What Renaud looks for when partnering with Venture Capital firms\n- Milestones to reach before taking a company public \nAnd much more!\n\nRenaud Laplanche\nRenaud is the co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, Inc. a neobank that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers. Under his leadership, Upgrade has reached profitability and a $3Bn+ valuation within 4 years of launch. \nPrior to Upgrade, Renaud founded and ran Lending Club for 10 years. He took the company public, reaching a market capitalization of $10 billion in December 2014. At Lending Club, Renaud pioneered consumer fintech and grew the company to become the largest provider of personal loans in America.\nRenaud was ranked #23 in Bloomberg Markets\u2019 2015 Most Influential List, an annual ranking of the World\u2019s top 50 most influential leaders across technology, finance, and politics. He was also recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative by President Clinton for expanding access to affordable and responsible credit. In 2014, he won the Economist Innovation Award in the consumer products category and was named the "best start-up CEO to work for" by Business Insider. Renaud was named \u201cFintech Executive of the Year\u201d by Finovate in 2020.\nHe also holds the Newport-Bermuda world speed sailing record.\n\nAbout Upgrade\nUpgrade is a neobank that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers through personal loans and cards, together with credit monitoring and education tools that help consumers better understand and manage their money. Over $7 billion in loans and cards have been originated by the Upgrade platform since its inception in 2017. Upgrade is headquartered in San Francisco, California. More information is available at: www.upgrade.com.\n\nFor more FinTech insights, follow us below:\nMedium: medium.com/wharton-fintech\nLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/\nWFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech\nAnirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24