A Chicago app that helps people file for bankruptcy for free has landed on Time Magazine's list of the 100 best inventions of the year.
Upsolve, a non-profit platform that's created a tool to help low-income families file for bankruptcy without hiring a lawyer, was among this year's crop of Time's top 2020 inventions. It was listed among other products like the Sony Playstation 5, the Allbirds Tree Dasher running shoe, and the Hydrow connected rowing machine.
Founded in 2018 by Chicago native Rohan Pavuluri, Upsolve's software is solving a major pain point for for bankruptcy filers: It often costs more to hire an attorney than people have in their bank accounts. It can cost $1,500 for attorney and legal fees, while the average Upsolve user has $225 in their checking account, Pavuluri said.
"There’s this tragic irony in America that we have this right [to file bankruptcy] but it's impossible to access because it costs so much," he said. "Many legal fees in areas of poverty law are like modern day poll taxes. If you can’t afford to pay the legal fees, you can’t afford to access your rights."
Its platform works by having users answer a series of questions about their debts and what they own, and it populates bankruptcy forms that they can file with the courts on their own.
"It's a lot like TurboTax, but for bankruptcy," Pavuluri said.
Upsolve, which is co-headquartered in Chicago and New York, has raised around $3 million in grants and donations to fund its work, including from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Y Combinator's non-profit arm, and the Legal Services Corporation. The company says it has helped users relieve a total of more than $250 million in debt.
Upsovle isn't the first Chicago company to make Time's list of best inventions. In 2019 Farmer's Fridge, maker of a vending machine that dispenses healthy meals and snacks, cracked the list. Time has also recognized Chicago startups Cameo and SpotHero, which both landed on its list of the 50 most "genius companies" of 2018.
