Fintech company Upgrade on Tuesday announced it raised a $280 million Series F funding round. The round, co-led by Coatue Management and DST Global, values the Bay Area unicorn at $6 billion.
“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,” Renaud Laplanche, co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, said in a statement.
Upgrade is working to change the credit card market. The company offers loans and credit to consumers to help them pay off credit cards. It also offers a credit card that gives rewards when users pay down their balance. Users can pay a monthly balance at a fixed rate or, if they can’t pay the balance, combined charges will be set into installments that can be paid back between 24 to 60 months.
“It’s like a mortgage or a car loan with a clear payment schedule,” Laplanche told TechCrunch in 2019. “You can budget for it and it sort of forces you to pay down the balance over a reasonable period.”
The recent funding and new valuation speaks to the company’s rapid growth. Upgrade has given over $10 billion in credit to consumers and expects to deliver $8 billion in 2021 alone, according to a statement.
With all this growth and business, Upgrade is looking to expand its team. The company is currently hiring for dozens of open tech roles, including engineers, designers, project managers and recruiters. Several positions are available for remote work while others are based at the company’s San Francisco or Pheonix offices.
In other news, the Nilson Report recently recognized the Upgrade Card as the fastest-growing credit card in the U.S., also signifying the first time a fintech company ranked among the top 50 U.S. credit card issuers, according to a statement from Upgrade.
But that’s not all. Upgrade is also getting in the crypto world by offering a credit card that focuses on bitcoin rewards rather than cash.
Since launching in 2017, Upgrade has raised $600 million in equity capital. The recent Series F round also saw participation from existing investors including Gopher Asset Management, G Squared, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Old Well Partners, Ribbit Capital, Sands Capital, Ventura Capital and Vy Capital.
