# Castlelake

> Castlelake is a VC fund in Minneapolis backing Financial Services and FinTech. See 22 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Minneapolis, United States
- Total investments: 22
- Last investment: Nov 2025
- Lead investor: 77%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- Website: http://www.castlelake.com

Castlelake is a global institutional alternative investment firm focused on deep value, asset rich opportunities in dislocated industries, employing a differentiated investment approach in capital starved situations. Senior members of their firm have more than two decades of experience managing through a variety of credit cycles around the world.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Castlelake. Shizune tracks 8 team members at Castlelake. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/castlelake?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Financial Services | 8 | 36% |
| FinTech | 7 | 32% |
| Aerospace | 3 | 14% |
| Credit | 2 | 9% |
| Lending | 2 | 9% |

29 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Debt Financing | 9 | 41% |
| Post-IPO Debt | 6 | 27% |
| Post-IPO Equity | 2 | 9% |
| Private Equity | 1 | 5% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 6 | 27% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 18% |
| Sweden | 3 | 14% |
| Italy | 1 | 5% |
| Brazil | 1 | 5% |

7 countries tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Isaiah Toback | Deputy Co-Chief Investment Officer | 1 | — |
| Joe McConnell | Deputy Co-Chief Investment Officer | 1 | — |
| Alexander Curcio | Partner | 1 | — |
| Eduardo D’Alessandro | Partner | 1 | — |
| Evan Carruthers | Managing Partner & Co-Founder | 0 | — |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pulse | Pulse provides SMEs with actionable insights based on financial data intelligence. | $130.8M | Debt Financing | Nov 20, 2025 |  |
| Upstart | Upstart is a lending platform that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to price credit and automates the borrowing process. The company's proprietary underwriting model identifies borrowers despite limited credit and employment history by using variables including schools attended, area of study, and work experience. Upstartpowered banks can offer higher approval rates and experience lower loss rates*, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand.It was founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Carlos, California. | $1.5B | Post-IPO Debt | Nov 06, 2025 |  |
| Equifinance | Equifinance is the lender of second-charge mortgages as an alternative to remortgaging and early redemption Charges. | $128.8M | Debt Financing | Jun 09, 2025 |  |
| Gol Transportes Aéreos | GOL offers the best travel experience to its passengers, including: the largest inventory of seats and the most legroom; the most complete platform with internet, movies and live TV; and the best loyalty program, SMILES. In cargo transportation, GOLLOG delivers parcels to various regions in Brazil and abroad. The Company has a team of 15,000 highlyqualified airline professionals focused on Safety, GOL's number one value, and operates a standardized fleet of 127 Boeing 737 aircraft. GOL's shares are traded on the NYSE (GOL) and the B3 (GOLL4). | $1.9B | Post-IPO Debt | May 16, 2025 |  |
| TradeBridge | TradeBridge has a strong international presence with offices in UK, France, Singapore and China. We work with a diverse range of businesses, funders and partners to provide working capital solutions for entrepreneurial and growing businesses. Our key sectors of expertise are ecommerce, healthcare, and corporates to which we provide revenue-basedfinance and payables finance products fit for a faster moving world | $93.2M | Debt Financing | Apr 30, 2025 |  |
| GoByBike | In 2020 the Finnish government introduced bicycles as a employee fringe benefit. GoByBike.fi strives to offer the benefit as a comprehensive B2B service that allows our customers and their employees to move and travel for the health of both people and the environment. GoByBike.fi is located in Espoo, Finland. | $136.4M | Debt Financing | Mar 11, 2025 |  |
| Oportun | Oportun is a fintech company that provides financial services from personal loans to financial resources. The company's mission-based technology-powered approach is designed to be inclusive, affordable, and empowering. It lends money to hardworking, low-to-moderate-income individuals and helps customers move forward in their lives,demonstrate their creditworthiness, and help establish the credit history they need to access new opportunities.Oportun was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Carlos, California. | $235M | Post-IPO Debt | Oct 29, 2024 |  |
| Abra Group | Abra Group provides airlines to reduce costs, scale operations, update fleets, expand routes, and improve services and loyalty programs. | $1.3B | Debt Financing | Oct 23, 2024 |  |
| YouLend | YouLend is the preferred global embedded finance platform for several of the world's most popular e-commerce and payment platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Dojo, Mollie, Just Eat Takeaway, and Takepayments. |  | Debt Financing | Oct 21, 2024 |  |
| Samhällsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB | SBB is a property company within social infrastructure. They operate in markets with underlying driving forces. Their property is characterized by rates and lease contracts. |  | Post-IPO Debt | May 28, 2024 |  |

10 of 22 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Allianz Global Investors](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/allianz-global-investors) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Elliott Management Corp.](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/elliott-management-corp) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- Hudson Cove Capital — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Innovation Endeavors](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/innovation-endeavors) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [JP Morgan](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jp-morgan-chase) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [MidCap Financial](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/midcap-financial) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [ENISA](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/enisa-2) — VC Fund
- [Development Bank of Wales](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/development-bank-of-wales) — VC Fund
- [The FSE Group](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/finance-south-east) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Castlelake invest in?

Castlelake invests primarily in Financial Services, FinTech and Aerospace startups, most often at Debt Financing and Post-IPO Debt stage. Most of the 22 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Castlelake?

Public channels for Castlelake include the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Castlelake?

The team at Castlelake includes Isaiah Toback (Deputy Co-Chief Investment Officer), Joe McConnell (Deputy Co-Chief Investment Officer) and Alexander Curcio (Partner), among 8 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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