Upstart's founders bought $7.65 million of its falling stock, and sold nothing
The stock touched a 52-week low of $22.54 on October 14 and is down about 45% this year. Over six months the two co-founders only bought while the president, CFO and chief legal officer only sold, and a third of the float is short into November 3 earnings.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Dave Girouard and Paul Gu built Upstart+8.36% — Upstart, up 8.36 percent today to underwrite consumer loans with machine-learning models rather than credit scores alone, and its Nasdaq-listed shares have made it a proxy for AI-in-finance sentiment. The past six months of Form 4 filings, the SEC's record of insider trades, show the two founders buying their own dip: chairman Girouard took 170,240 shares for an estimated $5.0 million and chief executive Gu 100,000 for $2.65 million. Between them, zero sales 1. Upstart itself spent another $100.06 million on buybacks in the first half 2.
The officers below them only sold
The rest of the roster went the other way: 22 open-market sales against 4 purchases in six months. President Sanjay Datta sold 161,780 shares for an estimated $4.53 million across eight sales, and chief financial officer Andrea Blankmeyer and chief legal officer Scott Darling sold as well 1. Insider sales can be taxes or diversification, and single purchases prove little 2. The split by rank is still the fact on file.
Founders bought $7.65 million; the president, CFO and chief legal officer sold $5.49 million
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Girouard, chairman | $5M |
| Gu, CEO | $2.65M |
| Darling, CLO | -$0.45M |
| Blankmeyer, CFO | -$0.51M |
| Datta, president | -$4.53M |
The loan machine kept funding
Preliminary third-quarter originations, disclosed on October 5, were $4,117.8 million, up from roughly $2.9 billion a year earlier and 2.6% below the second quarter's $4,227.2 million 2. Revenue has risen five straight quarters, to $364.7 million in the second quarter of 2026 3. The credit market stays open: on September 28 the rating agency KBRA assigned preliminary ratings to $400 million of notes in Upstart's 52nd securitization, against a $500 million loan pool, with 65.3% credit enhancement on the senior classes 4.
Revenue has risen five straight quarters, to $364.7 million
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $162.14M |
| Q4 '24 | $218.96M |
| Q1 '25 | $213.37M |
| Q2 '25 | $257.29M |
| Q3 '25 | $277.11M |
| Q4 '25 | $296.09M |
| Q1 '26 | $308.21M |
| Q2 '26 | $364.71M |
A third of the float disagrees
Short interest hit 33.13% of the float by September 15, 27.6 million shares, up 6.56% in two weeks 1. Second-quarter filings show Norway's Norges Bank cutting its stake 91.8% and the trading firm Jane Street 96.5%, while Bank of America+0.78% — Bank of America, up 0.78 percent today added 198.9% 1. The macro leans with the shorts: the Federal Reserve raised rates a quarter point on September 16, to 3.75–4.00%, its first increase in more than three years 5, and Upstart's own macro index sat 49% above its normal-economy level on October 5 2.
November 3 decides
Upstart reaffirmed about $294 million of 2026 adjusted EBITDA on August 4; the first half produced $117.37 million, and two repeats of Q2's $76.91 million would leave the year about $22.8 million short. The Street bridges it with Q3 revenue of $365.1 million, flat with Q2, then growth in Q4 2. Gu's September 10 purchase went in at a weighted average of $25.55; the stock touched a 52-week low of $22.54 on October 14, down from $43.73 at the end of 2025 26. November 3 decides whether the founders were early or wrong.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
