Upwardli
Upwardli is a Seattle-based B2B embedded finance platform that enables fintechs, gig worker platforms, and PFM providers to offer credit-builder products, Mastercard-branded cards, and bill reporting to credit-invisible U.S. consumers via API and white-label UI components.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Upwardli does
Upwardli (legally Upward Financial Inc.) is a Seattle-based B2B embedded finance infrastructure company founded in 2021 by former Remitly executives Aaron Gregory (CEO), Danielle Hill (COO), and Chris Hasz (CTO). The company targets fintechs, gig worker platforms, and personal finance management (PFM) providers, offering them a credit-building platform that helps the partners' end users — primarily credit-invisible and underserved individuals in the United States — establish and improve credit history. Upwardli does not sell directly to consumers; instead it embeds its products via API and white-label UI components inside partner applications.
The platform comprises three core products — Credit Builder (which converts recurring payments into credit-building tradelines reported to Experian and Equifax), a Mastercard-branded Card Program (credit-builder cards that double as new revenue streams for partners), and Bill Report (rent and bill payment reporting). These sit atop a REST API and a set of cross-platform embeddable UI components (Card Onboarding, CBaaS Onboarding, Card Management, Credit Goals, Profile) documented at developers.upwardli.com, with sandbox and production environments. Banking, identity, and data infrastructure is delivered through partners including Cross River Bank (Member FDIC, providing lines of credit and FDIC-insured deposits), Plaid (bank account linking), Persona (KYC and identity verification), and the three major U.S. credit bureaus. The company reports SOC 2 Type 2 certification and USA PATRIOT Act, GLBA, and FCRA compliance.
Upwardli operates a B2B2C, subscription- and usage-based revenue model with quote-based enterprise pricing; no public rate cards are disclosed. The company has raised approximately $10 million across a $2 million seed round in February 2023 and an $8 million Seed+ in November 2025 co-led by Dundee Venture Capital and Breakwater Ventures Fund, with a strategic Mastercard partnership announced in conjunction. Headcount is reported at 11–50 employees, and the platform is restricted to U.S. residents. Named public customer references include TipHaus (restaurant workforce card program) and Avibra (hourly workforce credit builder).
Upwardli firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Upwardli
- Legal name
- Upward Financial Inc.
- Website
- https://upwardli.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Upwardli is a Seattle-based B2B embedded finance platform that enables fintechs, gig worker platforms, and PFM providers to offer credit-builder products, Mastercard-branded cards, and bill reporting to credit-invisible U.S. consumers via API and white-label UI components.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Upwardli industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Embedded Finance Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Credit Card Issuing (52221), Sales Financing (52222), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)
- SIC
- Personal Credit Institutions (6141), Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Embedded Lending & Credit (POS, Working Capital, Credit Lines) (FSAGALAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms (BPAMAFAH), Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB)
Keywords
Where Upwardli is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Upwardli business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Embedded Finance Platform Fees: Upward provides B2B embedded finance infrastructure enabling companies to launch credit products. The company generates revenue by charging partner companies for access to its credit-building platform, APIs, and embedded components. The FAQ states 'There are no additional fees or interest charges from Upward, however, you may be charged by the merchant offering the Upward Credit Builder', suggesting a B2B2C model where merchants/platforms pay for the service.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise/B2B Custom Pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Upwardli product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Upwardli provides a B2B embedded finance infrastructure platform that enables fintech companies, gig worker platforms, and PFM providers to launch credit-building products under their own brand. The platform comprises three core products — Credit Builder (turns recurring payments into credit-building tradelines reported to Experian and Equifax), Card Program (Mastercard-branded credit-builder cards), and Bill Report (rent and bill payment reporting) — delivered via REST APIs and embeddable UI components for rapid integration.
Product overview
Upwardli is a B2B fintech infrastructure platform that enables companies to launch credit products. The platform consists of three core products: Credit Builder (turns recurring payments into credit-building tradelines reported to Experian and Equifax), Card Program (Mastercard-branded credit cards for credit building), and Bill Report (rent/bill payment reporting). These are supported by a developer platform offering a REST API and embeddable UI components for rapid integration. The company targets fintechs, gig worker platforms, and personal financial management apps, providing infrastructure that helps credit-invisible consumers access the U.S. financial system.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Credit Builder A B2B embedded finance solution that turns recurring payments into credit-building activity reported to Experian and Equifax. Users receive a credit limit usable with specific merchants, demonstrating ongoing utilization and repayment history. Designed for fintechs, gig platforms, and PFM providers to embed under their own brand for credit-invisible consumers.
- Card Program Mastercard-branded credit-builder card program enabling partner companies to offer cards that help users build credit while adding new revenue streams. Supports both physical and virtual cards as part of Upward's BaaS infrastructure.
- Bill Report Rent and bill payment reporting service that helps consumers build credit history through regular bill payments. Reports payment activity to credit bureaus to establish creditworthiness, helping partners attract and retain customers.
- Upward REST API REST API providing end-to-end functionality for the Upward platform, including consumer management, payments, credit insights, onboarding, Plaid integration, CBaaS (Credit Builder as a Service), bill switch, and simulations. Available in JavaScript SDK with sandbox and production environments.
- Embedded UI Components Cross-platform compatible, embeddable web view components for consumer-facing onboarding and management, including Card Onboarding, CBaaS Onboarding, Card Management, Credit Goals, and Profile components. Hosted inside embedded web views and communicate with parent applications via iframe messages, reducing partner development costs.
Quantifiable outcome
- Average credit score improvement of >40 points within 3 months for users with initial scores between 300-500 points
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Upwardli
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Upwardli technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability3 records
Feature8 records
Upwardli partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- MastercardcoreStrategic partnership with Mastercard enabling companies to launch Mastercard-branded card programs. The partnership accelerates Upward's capabilities in enabling companies to launch digital financial products including credit and debit card offerings bearing the Mastercard brand.
- Cross River BankcoreFDIC-insured bank partner providing the underlying banking infrastructure for Upward's credit and deposit products. Lines of credit and deposit products are provided by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC. The partnership enables Upward to offer compliant financial products without a banking charter.
- PlaidcorePlaid integration enables Upward to connect user bank accounts, verify account ownership, and confirm balances prior to approving transactions. Information shared with Plaid is treated according to Plaid's Privacy Policy.
- PersonacoreIdentity verification service using selfie matching against government-issued ID documents. Used for KYC/AML compliance to verify consumer identity during account creation and onboarding.
- ExperiancoreCredit bureau partnership enabling Upward to request and receive consumer credit reports and scores, and to report credit-building payment activity to build consumer credit history.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Upwardli competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Plaid: Plaid provides bank-account connectivity and verification infrastructure that Upwardli integrates with for ACH funding and account verification. It is an enabling/adjacent infrastructure provider rather than a direct competitor, but shapes the cost and reliability of Upwardli's data layer.
Broad incumbents
- Unit: Unit is a well-capitalized embedded finance platform offering bank accounts, cards, lending, and bill pay to fintechs via APIs and white-label components. It is a broader incumbent than Upwardli — offering credit-building-adjacent capabilities as part of a wider banking-infrastructure stack — and represents both a potential competitor and a partner/alternative for Upwardli's target customers.
- Treasury Prime: Treasury Prime provides a BaaS platform connecting fintechs to a network of bank partners for deposit accounts, cards, and lending infrastructure. As a broader incumbent with established bank partnerships, it competes for the same B2B embedded finance buyers as Upwardli, even though credit-building is not its primary focus.
Direct peers
- MainStreet: MainStreet provides a B2B credit and financial infrastructure platform that embeds tax credit recovery, lending, and other financial products into partner platforms serving small businesses and workers. It shares Upwardli's B2B embedded finance go-to-market, although its primary lens is SMB rather than consumer credit-building.
- Self (formerly Self Lender): Self provides credit-builder loans to consumers and increasingly exposes its product via B2B APIs to partner platforms. It overlaps directly with Upwardli's Credit Builder product and shares the thin-file, subprime target demographic, making it a meaningful direct competitor as it scales its partner channel.
- Grow Credit: Grow Credit offers a B2B credit-building API platform enabling fintechs and brands to issue credit-builder cards to thin-file consumers. It is the closest direct competitor to Upwardli's CBaaS model, sharing both the embedded B2B distribution approach and the credit-invisible target user.
- Extra: Extra operates a B2B2C credit-building debit card that reports payment activity to credit bureaus to improve cardholder scores. It competes directly with Upwardli's Card Program in serving consumers seeking to build credit through everyday spending, with a partner-led distribution model similar to Upwardli's.
Emerging players
- Piñata: Piñata is a B2B rent- and bill-payment platform that rewards on-time payments with credit score reporting. It competes with Upwardli's Bill Report module within the same partner-led credit-building niche, focused on Latinx and underserved renters.
- Possible Finance: Possible Finance offers small-dollar credit products to underbanked consumers and has signaled movement into embedded finance and partner distribution. It is an emerging player with overlapping end-user demographics (thin-file, subprime) but a more direct-to-consumer orientation than Upwardli's B2B model.
- Esusu: Esusu provides a B2B rent- and bill-reporting platform that helps property managers and partners build credit history for residents. It directly overlaps with Upwardli's Bill Report product on the credit-building reporting layer, though without the broader credit-builder line-of-credit and card components.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Upwardli social profiles
Digital presenceUpwardli compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Upwardli financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Upwardli leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Upwardli funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Upwardli M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Upwardli
What does Upwardli do?
Upwardli provides a B2B embedded finance infrastructure platform that enables fintech companies, gig worker platforms, and PFM providers to launch credit-building products under their own brand. The platform comprises three core products — Credit Builder (turns recurring payments into credit-building tradelines reported to Experian and Equifax), Card Program (Mastercard-branded credit-builder cards), and Bill Report (rent and bill payment reporting) — delivered via REST APIs and embeddable UI components for rapid integration.
Is Upwardli a public or private company?
Upwardli is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Upwardli founded?
Upwardli was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Upwardli based?
Upwardli is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does Upwardli make money?
One revenue line is on record: embedded Finance Platform Fees.
Who are Upwardli's main competitors?
Plaid is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Unit and Treasury Prime. Direct peers are MainStreet, Self (formerly Self Lender), Grow Credit and Extra. Emerging players are Piñata, Possible Finance and Esusu.
Does Upwardli have an API?
Yes. Upward provides a REST API enabling secure transactions across all product functionality including authentication, bill payments, consumer management, bill reporting, statements, credit insights, partners, payments, webhooks, accounts, payment cards, onboarding, Plaid integration, CBaaS (Credit Builder as a Service), bill switch, and simulations. The API offers both sandbox (fully isolated, no live transactions) and production environments. Partners can create consumers via API and access full platform functionality to convert purchasing and payment processes into credit-building activity. Developer documentation is at developers.upwardli.com.
What industry is Upwardli in?
Upwardli's product category is Embedded Finance Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGALAD, Embedded Lending & Credit (POS, Working Capital, Credit Lines), with a secondary code of BPAMAFAH, Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms. Its NAICS code is 52221 and its SIC code is 6141.