Renaud Laplanche
Renaud Laplanche (born 1970) is a French-American entrepreneur and business executive. He is co-founder and CEO of Upgrade Inc., a financial technology company. Previously, he co-founded and served as CEO of Lending Club, a U.S. peer-to-peer lending platform, for ten years. Earlier, he co-founded and led TripleHop Technologies, developer of the MatchPoint software, later acquired by Oracle Corporation.[1]
Biography
Renaud Laplanche was born in France in 1970. He competed in sailing, winning the French Laser Championship in 1988 and 1990, and retired from competition before the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games to focus on his education.
He earned a Magistère Juriste d'Affaires (DJCE) in business law at the University of Montpellier, an MBA from HEC Paris, and pursued further studies at London Business School.[2]
From 1995 to 1999, Laplanche worked as a securities operations lawyer and senior associate at the Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton law firm in Paris and New York, advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and high-technology investments.[3]
In August 2000, after leaving Oracle, he co-founded Lending Club with Soul Htite. The idea emerged while at TripleHop when he noted that credit card rates topped 18%, whereas his company earned just 1.5% on high-yield certificates of deposit.
In 2016, Laplanche resigned from Lending Club following policy violations, including conflicts of interest.[4]
Recognition
In 2002 Laplanche was named Entrepreneur of the Year by HEC Paris. In 2012, BFM TV honored him as Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2013, he was selected as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California. In 2015 Bloomberg listed him among the world’s fifty most influential business figures.[5]