There are still funding rounds getting done during the pandemic, evenly solidly up rounds; Renaud Laplanche’s Upgrade has just closed $40 million in equity funding that values the company at $1 billion, double their previous valuation; the Series D was led by Santander InnoVentures with participation from existing investors including Union Square Ventures, Ribbit, Vy Capital and Silicon Valley Bank and new investors Ventura Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures; this brings their total amount of funding to date to $200 million; Laplanche told Techcrunch that it is on a $100 million revenue run rate and is cash flow positive which explains the relatively small size of the round; Upgrade expects to do $3 billion in lending this year, including $1 billion in credit card volume on their Upgrade card. Techcrunch
