As he did at Lending Club, Mr. Laplanche is betting that by moving all sorts of borrowing online, start-ups can do away with the expensive physical branches that banks have traditionally relied on and reach more people, while make lending decisions more quickly and transparently. Upgrade’s open-floor-plan offices were buzzing this week with almost 50 employees, including several who had been forced out of Lending Club with Mr. Laplanche. Mr. Laplanche’s comeback, though, is not going to be easy to pull off. The industry he helped invent is crowded now, with established banks like Goldman Sachs competing to issue personal loans online alongside Silicon Valley players like Prosper and Social Finance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/business/dealbook/lending-club-renaud-laplanche-upgrade.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_dk_20170406&nl=dealbook&nl_art=0&nlid=31051180&ref=headline&te=1&_r=0