Upstart CEO interview with Cramer

Dave Girouard, CEO of Upstart, was interviewed by Jim Cramer on Mad Money yesterday. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/26/upstart-ceo-on-growth-…

What I liked:

Q (Jim): Is it possible that you do a thousand times more loans than you’re doing now?

A (Dave): For sure. We are in one product (just entering our second) in just one market. We are still at the very early stages. AI-enabled lending is applicable to the whole world of credit. And that’s a vast, many many trillion-dollar opportunity in the future.

(Pavlos here): A thousand times more loans. Just to put things into perspective, in Q2 Upstart did 286,864 loans, totaling $2.80 billion. Multiplied by 1000 gives us $2.8 Trillion. Pretty big number. This shows how much runway there is for Upstart if they keep executing the way they are.

Q (Jim): How many institutions have you won and how many are there left to go to?

A (Dave): There are about 25 banks and credit unions on our platform today compared to 10 back in December so the growth rate is quick and the pipeline is extremely strong. I would be shocked if in a couple of years we don’t have hundreds of banks and credit unions on the platform.

(Pavlos here): If 25 banks and credit unions can bring in $2.80 billion in a quarter, then imagine how much easier it would be once the domino effect starts with 100s of banks and unions using the platform. This could mean a substantial recurring revenue for Upstart too since it would start to make a meaningful impact both on the top and bottom line.

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Also…Still, the opportunity for expansion is huge, as the company is in the “very early stages of proving out the concept of artificial-enabled lending,” he said. “In our view, it’s applicable to the whole world of credit and that’s a vast many, many trillions opportunity in the future.”

So much for too much customer concentration. I mean, this stock may actually be cheap here. The TAM is enormous and they’re just getting started.

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