Upgrade Inc., a lending startup that counts former LendingClub Corp. executive Renaud Laplanche as a co-founder, raised $105 million in a funding round that values the company at more than $3.3 billion.
The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, the investment arm of Koch, Inc., Upgrade said in a statement Wednesday. The startup is profitable, according to Laplanche, meaning that there wasn’t an urgency in raising the new round.
Laplanche helped create Upgrade about five years ago and turned it into a business that has extended more than $7 billion in credit and expects to do that same amount this year alone. Upgrade focuses on mainstream U.S. consumers, instead of the younger or lower-income customers pursued by other fintech startups, according to Laplanche.