Renaud Laplanche

Renaud Laplanche (born 1970) is a French-American entrepreneur and business executive. He is the co-founder and CEO of the fintech company, Upgrade, Inc. Prior to founding the company, Laplanche co-founded and served as the CEO of Lending Club, an American peer-to-peer lending company, for a decade. Before his tenure at Lending Club, he also co-founded and led TripleHop Technologies, the maker of the MatchPoint software, which was subsequently acquired by Oracle Corporation.

Early life and education Renaud Laplanche was born in 1970 and grew up in France. The company operated from an office located in the North Tower of the New York World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. LendingClub first launched on Facebook to leverage existing connections among users for testing users' trust and willingness to help one another financially, and to gather user feedback about the new service. LendingClub completed its IPO on December 10, 2014. The stock price increased 56% on its first day of trading.

In May 2016, following an internal review which found a violation of the company's business practices, Laplanche resigned from LendingClub. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated LendingClub and claimed that LendingClub, while Laplanche was acting as CEO, directed an outside investment advisory firm to buy LendingClub loans that were at risk of going unfunded. In 2018, LendingClub and Laplanche settled the matter in an administrative proceeding with the SEC, without admitting or denying the findings. In August 2016, he co-founded Upgrade, Inc.

Upgrade

In August 2016, Laplanche along with other former Lending Club executives started the fintech company, Upgrade, Inc. The company provides credit and mobile banking products. Upgrade raised over $122 million in venture capital from several investors.

In November 2021, Upgrade grew 83% in valuation over four months to $6.28 billion after raising $280 million in a Series F funding round led by Coatue Management and DST Global.

In October 2025, CNBC and others reported that Upgrade had raised $165 million in new equity.

Recognition Laplanche was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2012 BFM Awards.

In 2014, Laplanche won the 2014 Economist Innovation Award in the consumer products category for pioneering peer-to-peer consumer lending and was named the best startup CEO to work for by Business Insider. Laplanche was also recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative for expanding access to affordable credit, and on Bloomberg Markets’ Most Influential List, an annual ranking of the World’s top 50 most influential leaders across technology, finance, and politics. Laplanche was honored in the 2016 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards for building the world’s largest online marketplace connecting borrowers and investors.

In September 2020, Laplanche was named Fintech Executive of the Year by Finovate.

Personal life Since April 2015, Laplanche and co-skipper Ryan Breymaier have held the speed record for sailing from Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda in 23 hours, 9 minutes, and 52 seconds at the average speed of 27 knots. Between April 1 and September 22, 2015, Laplanche and the crew of the Lending Club 2, a 105-ft maxi-trimaran, held the speed record for sailing from Cowes to Dinard across the English Channel. Between July 15, 2015, and May 17, 2017, Laplanche also held the Transpac record between Long Beach, CA and the Diamond Head lighthouse in Oahu, Hawaii with 3 days, 8 hours, and 9 seconds.