Upgrade announces new Montréal Development Center
Upgrade, Inc., a San Francisco-based fintech company, announced today that it plans to open a new development center in Montréal. The company expects to ramp up to 100 jobs within two years as it continues to develop innovative consumer credit products, on the heels of the launch of its Personal Credit Line earlier this year and the expansion of Credit Health, Upgrade’s credit monitoring and education product.
“We’ve just closed a $62M equity financing that will enable continued investments in product, credit analytics, compliance and risk management across the company including the Montréal office,” said Renaud Laplanche, co-founder and CEO of Upgrade. ‘’We are convinced that Montréal’s vibrant technology culture and engineering talent pool will contribute to strengthen Upgrade’s technology and product DNA.’’
Upgrade is planning to hire 75 more engineers in the next two years to join the 25 existing team members. The company is collaborating with Montréal-based design firm ACDF to customize its 14,000-square-foot downtown office space.
“Greater Montréal has the highest concentration of high-tech jobs in Canada and stands out for its sizeable and thriving financial sector,” said Hubert Bolduc, President and CEO of Montréal International. “Upgrade will find here all the talent and expertise to boost its capacity for innovation while helping position the region as a key fintech player.”
“Companies in new technology sectors play a major role in Montréal and we are proud to have Upgrade join this burgeoning ecosystem,” said Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montréal. “Our talent pool and our quality of life are big draws that attract high value-added businesses such as Upgrade. And knowing that a hundred quality jobs will be created here is very positive for our flourishing economy.”
“Over the course of the last year and a half we’ve launched three new product offerings that are helping people access more affordable credit and our technology team has been at the center of making this happen. Montréal features a great talent pool with top-notch expertise in diverse technology fields including big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain. As we continue to innovate and craft new consumer credit products and experiences, we believe the Montréal engineering talent is ideally suited to our efforts,” added Laplanche.
Upgrade has raised $142 million in equity capital since inception in 2016 from investors including Apoletto, CreditEase Fintech Fund, FirstMark Capital, NOAH, Ribbit, Sands Capital Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Union Square Ventures and Vy Capital. The Upgrade platform has facilitated over $1 billion in originations of affordable consumer loans since inception.
About Upgrade
Upgrade is a consumer credit platform that combines access to affordable credit with credit monitoring and education tools to help consumers better understand their credit and unlock their credit potential. Upgrade employs over 300 team members and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an operations center in Phoenix, Arizona and technology centers in Chicago, Illinois and Montréal, Canada. Upgrade does not facilitate loans to residents of Connecticut, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont and West Virginia. All loans originated through the Upgrade platform are issued by WebBank, Member FDIC. More information is available at www.upgrade.com.
