Upstart

Upstart is an AI lending platform whose underwriting models price consumer loans — personal, auto, and home equity — using far more variables than a traditional credit score, connecting borrowers to a marketplace of banks and credit unions. Founded in 2012 by ex-Google leaders and headquartered in San Mateo, California, Upstart went public in 2020. Its thesis is that alternative-data machine learning approves more creditworthy borrowers at lower loss rates than legacy scorecards, though its volumes move with interest-rate cycles.