What is Pagaya? The AI lending network at No. 6

Pagaya (NASDAQ: PGY) runs an AI credit network that sits between lenders and capital markets: banks and fintech partners route loan applications through Pagaya's models, which approve borrowers the lenders' own underwriting would decline, and the loans are funded through Pagaya's investor network. The company earns fees on the volume that flows through. It opens at No. 6 on the Roundtable 100 with a Power Ranking of 79, including the highest possible Team score on the board at 98.

The second quarter was the strongest in its history. Network volume reached $3.5 billion, up 33% year over year, revenue rose 19% to $387 million, and net income surged 172% to $45 million, a record, with GAAP earnings of $0.49 per share. Management raised full-year guidance to $12.5 billion to $13.25 billion in network volume and $155 million to $180 million in GAAP net income.

The pressure point is margin: fee revenue less production costs slipped to 4.2% of volume from 4.8% a year earlier as elevated benchmark rates squeezed funding economics, and the stock trades well below its 52-week high despite the record results. That gap between operating performance and share price is precisely the kind of divergence the ranking's evidence-based scoring is designed to surface.

See the full Roundtable 100 list here.