Upstart, an artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace, secured a programmatic purchase commitment from funds managed by Blue Owl Capital. Blue Owl’s alternative credit strategy will purchase up to $2 billion of consumer loans on the Upstart platform over 18 months. The transaction includes an initial acquisition of a $290 million personal loan portfolio, which closed in September.
“We are excited to support Upstart’s efforts to make the consumer lending process dramatically more efficient for both borrowers and lenders,” David Aidi, co-head of financial assets at Blue Owl Alternative Credit, said.
“We are also proud to leverage the Blue Owl Alternative Credit team’s data science effort and deep experience in the consumer space to join Upstart in this journey,” Ray Chan, co-head of financial assets at Blue Owl Alternative Credit, said.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Blue Owl team in one of our largest purchase commitments ever,” Sanjay Datta, chief financial officer of Upstart, said. “Blue Owl’s ambitious vision and long-term focus will accelerate our efforts to expand access to affordable credit.”
The transaction was structured and closed by Atalaya Capital Management, an alternative credit manager. Blue Owl completed its acquisition of Atalaya on Sept. 30.
ATLAS SP Partners, the warehouse finance and securitized products business majority owned by Apollo funds, will provide the debt financing for the loan purchases.
