Growth capital fund Upper90 raises $180m to fuel fintech start-ups

Upper90, a hybrid fund that provides “founder-friendly” credit and equity to firms in e-commerce, enterprise and fintech, has raised $180 million in a capped initial closing for its third fund.

Upper90 raises $180m from 300-strong pool of investors

Commitments came from a 300-strong investor base of entrepreneurs to help founders scale with less dilution.

This investor base will also look to provide opportunities and advice to nascent portfolio companies alongside the financing.

Upper90’s investment model combines tailored credit and equity for technology and fintech businesses that have predictable revenue or collateral.

“Over the last 10 years, founders have faced 50 percent dilution through Series B rounds. Upper90-backed founders, conversely, own materially more by utilising credit earlier for the healthier parts of their businesses,” Upper90 CEO and co-founder Billy Libby says.

“With pressure on valuations, access to alternative financing solutions is top of mind.”

“90 percent of the world’s data has been created over the last year, which has personalised every part of our lives, and we launched Upper90 because there should be a similar trend in how start-ups are capitalised,” Libby adds.

Since raising its first fund in 2018, Upper90 has handed out more than $2.2 billion across 43 portfolio companies.

Co-founder and chair Jason Finger says: “Somewhere along the way founders started getting judged on how much money they raised instead of how much ownership they retained. This is backwards.”