Fresh off a new funding round that put Upgrade in unicorn status, CEO and Co-founder, Renaud Laplanche talked with Crowdfund Insider about the recent funding round, the impact of the pandemic, credit cards and what’s coming; Upgrade will use the money from the funding round to grow their Upgrade Card business and to launch Upgrade Banking, a full suite of mobile banking products; the Upgrade Card is still growing at 20%+ per month despite the pandemic; Upgrade launched a contactless version of the Upgrade Card as well as a mobile payment version to help keep their customers safe; some of the consumer habits that have been changed by the pandemic will endure and Laplanche thinks that mobile banking will be one of them; many fintech firms like Upgrade benefited from an acceleration in the digitalization of financial services. Crowdfund Insider.