Category: Challenger Banks

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*

Mercury Bank

Startups of all sizes rely on Mercury as they create the next great companies.

Introducing Mercury Vault: Protect your cash with a money market fund and up to $5M in FDIC insurance – 12x the industry standard.

Apply in just 10 minutes!

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.

RankLearn MoreFAB Score*FoundedFunding $M
1http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Murcury-logo-square.jpg

Mercury

367SF2017$1521,500,000
***http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Relay-logo.webp

Relay

67Toronto2018$19280,000
2http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/BluevineLogo.pngBlueVine282SF2013768880,000
3http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Novo-logo-square.jpg

NOVO

233NYC2016$171790,000
4http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Found-logo-600-300.pngFound281San Francisco2019$75700,000
5http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Logo-1.pngArc100SF202118117,000
SP***http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Logo.png

Revolut

NALondon2015$1,7008,200,000
6http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Loli-logo-square.jpg

Lili

92NYC2018$80290,000
7http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Relay-logo.webp

Relay

67Toronto2018$19280,000
8http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Live-Oak-Logo.pngLive Oak Bank65Wilmington, NC2008$75170,000
9http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Northone-logo-square.jpg

NorthOne

55NYC2016$9086,000
10http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Grasshopper-Bank-logo-square.jpg

Grasshopper

39NYC2016$16222,000
11http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Baselane-Logo-Blue-large.pngBaselane 28NYC2020$7.995,000
12http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Winden-logo.pngWinden26NYC2021$5.3100,000
13http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Viably-logo-full-color.svgViably21NC2021$2122,000
14http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Vergo-logo-square.jpgVergo15NYC2021$4.137,000
15http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Zil-logo.pngZil11Dallas2021$026,000
16http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GuavaLogos_guavalogo.pngGuava5NYC2018$2.43,100

Challenger of the Month*

Relay

SEE YOUR CASH FLOW CLEAR AS DAY

Relay is a FREE, online business banking and money management platform that helps small businesses take control of their cash flow and get crystal clear on what they’re earning, spending and saving.

HQ: Toronto  |  Founded: 2018  |  Raised $19.4M (including $15M in 2021)  |  Website visits: 280,000 (Jan) | Employees: 96  |  Trustpilot: 4.3 (746 reviews) | iOS app: 4.6 (328 reviews)

Apply in just 10 minutes!

Sources: FintechLabs, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMrush; 19 Feb 2023

* 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.
**Funding is the amount invested into the company as either equity or debt.
***Our business model depends on revenue from our sponsors and referrals. So anytime you see a sponsor or referral link in the URL, we potentially earn a fee upon establishing a new funded account (thanks!). This can impact their visibility on our website (for example, Revolut), but does not impact their FAB score.

FAB Score*FoundedFunding $M
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Murcury-logo-square.jpg367SF2017$152
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Relay-logo.webp67Toronto2018$19
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/BluevineLogo.png282SF2013768
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Novo-logo-square.jpg233NYC2016$171
http://fintechlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Found-logo-600-300.png281San Francisco2019$75
See Full List
Company OverviewFAB Score*FoundedFunding $M
national funding logo tightAd1999$105San Diego
Capchase-logo-square4882020$950NYC
SMB Lenders: Kabbage Continues to Cook Under American Express Ownership36220082500Atlanta
CLEARCO_600x3153092015699Toronto
BluevineLogo2822013$768SF
See Full List
Last Updated: August 2021
CompanyFAB Score*FoundedFunding ($M)
Divvy2002016$418Utah
Ramp8882019$1,360NYC
Expensify4802008$401SF
Jeeves-Logo2002019$368NYC
Airbase-logo-black1312017$252SF
See Full List
Updated June 2021
FAB Score*FoundedFunding ($M)
2302016$881SF
1222017$520SF
802017$306Wash DC
632005$0London
392015$142SF
See Full List
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