Gal Krubiner is an Israeli-born entrepreneur who serves as chief executive officer and co-founder of Pagaya, a financial technology company that applies artificial intelligence to consumer credit underwriting [1]. Before founding Pagaya, he studied economics and statistics and worked as a banker at UBS and Deutsche Bank, where he focused on structured products, including collateralized loan obligations [3]. Around 2016 he began exploring how technology, particularly big data and machine learning, could be applied to capital markets, and that year he co-founded Pagaya together with Avital Pardo, who became chief technology officer, and Yahav Yulzari, who became chief risk officer [2][3]. Krubiner has said the founders concluded that entering the online lending market directly, as firms such as Lending Club and Prosper had done, would add little new value, so Pagaya instead positioned itself as a business-to-business enabler working behind the scenes of fintech and, later, traditional lenders [2][3].
In describing Pagaya's model, Krubiner has pointed to a persistent gap in consumer credit access, citing a figure of roughly 42 percent of applicants being declined credit at the point of application, and framing this as both an efficiency failure and a source of distress for consumers who are turned away [2][3]. Pagaya's approach, as he explains it, is to embed its AI models directly into partner lenders' loan origination systems so that declined applicants can be reassessed and approved, with Pagaya and its institutional investors funding the resulting loans off the lender's balance sheet [2][3]. He has cited approval-rate improvements of up to around 20 percent in favorable cases as a result of this process [2][3]. On the investor side, Krubiner has named backers and capital partners including sovereign and institutional investors such as Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, and Angelo Gordon, while on the lending side he has pointed to partnerships spanning auto lending, such as with Westlake, subprime consumer lending through Prosper, and point-of-sale credit through Klarna [2][3]. He has emphasized that Pagaya's underwriting relies primarily on credit bureau and other compliant data sources, given the regulatory constraints of operating in the United States, but argues that the company's position at the center of many lenders' data flows, rather than within a single lender, gives its models a broader and more accurate view of risk than any individual lender could develop alone [2][3].
Krubiner has described Pagaya's early history in similar terms, recalling that in 2016 the company's first milestone was signing its first client and being granted discretionary authority to manage that client's capital, which he has called a pivotal validation of the business [4]. He has characterized Pagaya as a finance-oriented company that uses technology as a tool rather than as a technology company in a narrow sense, drawing a contrast with venture-backed peers by noting its early institutional and private capital backing [4]. For 2017, he outlined priorities centered on execution, including growing assets under management and building out the team across new products and partnerships [4]. In 2018, citing New York's role as a global center of finance and decision-making, Krubiner relocated to the United States to be closer to the institutional investors and partners central to Pagaya's growth, a move that preceded the company's expansion into hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and its public listing [2][3].
Insights & ideas
Gal Krubiner frames Pagaya's core idea as using big data and AI, tools he calls disruptive rather than mere buzzwords, to assess credit risk more effectively than traditional underwriting [2][3]. He argues that despite decades of progress in the US financial system, roughly 42% of applicants are still declined credit, a failure he sees as both an efficiency problem and an emotional burden on consumers [2][3]. His stated mission is to give lenders the confidence to approve more of these borderline applicants, describing lifts of up to 20% in approvals when Pagaya's AI is embedded into partners' loan origination systems [2][3]. He positions Pagaya deliberately as a B2B2C enabler rather than a competitor to fintech lenders, believing direct competition would add little value given how well "fintech lending 1.0" already served consumers [2][3].
Krubiner also emphasizes Pagaya's identity as a finance-first company that leverages technology and institutional capital across verticals, citing early milestones like onboarding its first discretionary-management client in 2016 as pivotal validation of the model [1]. He describes 2017 priorities as pure execution: growing assets under management and building out the team [1].
Experience
- Chief Executive OfficerPagayaMay 2016 to Present
- Israel UHNW ZurichUBSMay 2013 to Feb 2016
- e-FX sales EMEAUBSOct 2012 to May 2013
- Internship - Sales Desk EM Global MarketsDeutsche BankAug 2012 to Oct 2012
- CEO and Co-founderSuper Price2011 to 2012
- Investment Manager and Board MemberORMOR CAPITAL2009 to 2012
- Analyst & Team leaderArmy2006 to 2009
Education
Tel Aviv University · Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), Economic & Statistics2009 - 2012
- Gimnasia Hertzlia
Media & appearances
- Gal Krubiner of Pagaya - YouTubeOct 2, 2024
Gal Krubiner, CEO and co-founder of Pagaya, discusses the company's AI-based underwriting models and their work with fintech and traditional lenders. He explains Pagaya's mission to provide access to credit to more consumers by leveraging big data and AI to help lenders approve applicants they might otherwise decline, and addresses the current state of consumer credit and the impact of rising interest rates.
- Gal Krubiner, Co-Founder & CEO of Pagaya - YouTubeDec 5, 2023
Gal Krubiner discusses his background in banking and statistics, founding Pagaya in 2016 with two co-founders to use AI and big data to improve consumer credit approval rates. He explains how Pagaya partners with lenders and banks by embedding AI into their loan origination systems to increase approval rates for declined borrowers, while also connecting institutional investors to fund these loans.
- Videos
Gal Krubiner discusses Pagaya's early growth in 2016, highlighting the significance of onboarding their first client and gaining discretionary management authority. He explains Pagaya's positioning as a finance-oriented company leveraging AI and technology to manage assets in the online credit space, and outlines 2017 priorities focused on execution, acquiring more assets under management, and team building.
- Gal Krubiner of Pagaya - Fintech One-On-One (podcast)Sep 28, 2023
- Pagaya CEO Gal Krubiner - Podchaser
- Pagaya CEO Gal Krubiner – Transforming consumer ... - Spotify
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