Upstart is an AI lending platform that partners with banks and credit unions to provide consumer loans using non-traditional variables, such as education and employment, to predict creditworthiness.

The founding team includes Dave Girouard, former President of Enterprise Google; Paul Gu, a Thiel Fellow; and Anna Counselman, former Manager of Global Enterprise Customer Programs and Gmail Consumer Operations at Google.

Upstart developed an income and default prediction model to determine creditworthiness of a potential borrower.

This means that in addition to traditional underwriting criteria—FICO score, credit report, and income—the Upstart underwriting considers education variables—colleges attended, area of study, GPA, and standardized test scores—and work history to develop a statistical model of the borrower's financial capacity and personal propensity to repay.

They subsequently raised a series A round of $5.9M which included new investors Eric Schmidt (Google Executive Chairman), Marc Benioff, Khosla Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Founders Fund, and Collaborative Fund.