Challenger Banks for SMBs

The first pure-play online challenger bank was Security First Network Bank. It launched in 1995 just a year after Amazon.com. Over the next 20 years, digital bank startups would gain little traction, especially in the United States. But that changed in the latter part of the 2010s and now there are more than 250 challenger banks worldwide.

But we still haven't seen a breakout small business bank (see definition below). The digital small biz lenders are grabbing share: Kabbage (now part of AmEx), Square, Paypal, Amazon, Brex and others. But there is not a place where small businesses flock to get deposit, payment, and financing services within a single interface.

Challenger of the Month

There are now more than a dozen startups aggressively competing to become that spot in the United States (see Table below)

The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.

	Learn More	FAB Score*	HQ	Founded	Funding $M		Product Overview	Visits (Nov21)	Funding Last 12 Months	App Downloads	Citations	Twitter	# Employees	TrustPilot	Previous Funding	Vistors (SEMr)	Review Date	Recommended
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Murcury-logo-square.jpg	Mercury	307	SF	2017	$152	Apply		920000	120						32.2	140000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Novo-logo-square.jpg	NOVO	297	NYC	2016	$136	Apply		790,000	40.7	12000	8	750	35	3	4.8	200000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Found-logo-square.jpg	Found	185	San Francisco	2019	$75	Apply
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Relay-logo-square.jpg	Relay FI	57	Toronto	2018	$19	Apply		110000	19.4		0	410	16		0	15000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Northone-logo-square.jpg	NorthOne	44	NYC	2016	$23	Apply		260,000	21		14	2300	35		2.3	51000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Loli-logo-square.jpg	Lili	72	NYC	2018	$80	Apply		160000	80						0	20,000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Oxygen-logo-square-1.jpg	Oxygen	167	SF	2018	$25	Apply		490,000	17		16	197			7	12,000	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Nearside-logo-square.jpg	Nearside	125	SF	2018	$77	Apply		17000	14						5	INA	25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Grasshopper-Bank-logo-square.jpg	Grasshopper	37	NYC	2016	$161	Apply		12000	0						131.2		25 August 2021
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Winden-logo.png	Winden	25	NYC	2021	$5.3	Apply
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Baselane-Logo-Blue-large.png	Baselane	18	NYC	2020	$7.9	Apply
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Zil-logo.png	Zil	13	Dallas	2021	INA	Apply
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Vergo-logo-square.jpg	Vergo	9	NYC	2021	$4	Apply		1,200
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/zifi-logo-150x150.png	Zifi (Zions Bank)	Unlaunched	Utah	2022	INA	Apply

Source: FintechLabs, 3 Feb 2022 with data sourced from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb and SEMrush

*FAB SCORE:  The FAB score, Fintech Attention Barometer, is a proxy for the overall size of a private company since they typically do not release traditional metrics (# customers, deposits, AUM, etc). The score is based on VC funding, website traffic, mobile downloads, and the number of employees. It's a work in progress, so expect changes in the formula.

Definition: To qualify, challengers don't necessarily need to be regulated as a bank as long as they facilitate deposits and debit/charge cards under one UI. The company must predominantly focus on small-business financial services (for example, that eliminates Paypal, Amazon, Square) delivered entirely digitally (rules out Wells Fargo, BofA, and the majority of traditional banks). We will also include divisions of traditional FIs if they operate under a separate autonomous brand, such as BBVA's Azlo (which closed earlier this year).