Renaud Laplanche has announced the launch of a new online consumer lending platform called Upgrade; the firm’s investors include Apoletto, CreditEase, FirstMark Capital, Noah Holdings, Ribbit Capital, Sands Capital Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Union Square Ventures, Uprising and Vy Capital; the firm will partner with WebBank for loan originations and plans to sell its loans to institutional investors; it is working with Jefferies on its capital markets strategy and a loan securitization program; the firm also has plans to use blockchain for data management and transactions. Source
