Other than a brief spike in 2018, it’s been 15 years since short-term rates were high enough for most small-to-medium-size businesses (SMB) to worry about chasing yield on their parked cash. But that’s changed dramatically in the past 6 months. With “risk-free” rates pushing 5%, even a business with $50k in reserve (throwing off $200/mo) has the incentive to sweep that out of a non-interest checking account.
Are we about to see a rush of fintech startups serving the interest-sensitive small business market? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether VCs believe we’ll have a long-term run of rates higher than 3%. But what we will surely see is challenger banks dusting off their sweep features and emphasizing them in their marketing and branding.
Case in point: Just days after the Feds took over SVB, Mercury was in the market with Mercury Vault, offering $5 million in FDIC insurance by distributing balances across 20 insured banks. And we’ve also seen the launch of uniquely named and QED backed, Meow, with an FDIC-deposit-aggregation service Max Checking Account featuring $50 million of FDIC insurance.
Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Top Online Savings Banks for Small Businesses
| Rank | Company | FAB* | Top APY (15 Aug. ’23) ** | Min Balance** | Founded | HQ | Funding ($M***) | Visits (July ’23) |
| 1 | Mercury | 447 | 5.34% | $250k | 2017 | SF | $152 | 1,900,000 |
| 2 | Relay | 89 | 3.00% | $1M | 2018 | Toronto | $19 | 390,000 |
| 3 | Lili***** | 84 | 4.15% | None | 2018 | NYC | $80 | 250,000 |
| 4 | Grasshopper | 51 | 2.25% | $25k | 2016 | NYC | $162 | 80,000 |
| 5 | LiveOak Bank | 45 | 4% | $30k | 2008 | Wilmington, NC | $157 | 150,000 |
| 6 | Baselane | 28 | 4.25% | None | 2020 | NYC | $7 | 99,000 |
| 7 | Meow**** | 27 | 5%/4.8% | None | 2021 | NYC | $27 | 35,000 |
| 8 | Zamp | 22 | 5.40% | $100k | 2022 | India | $25 | 13,000 |
| 9 | Mayfair | 14 | 4.72% | $2.5k | 2021 | SF | $14 | 6,100 |
Source: FintechLabs, Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, 15 August 2023
1. Mercury Technologies
FAB Score = 447 (up 80 since April 2023)
Top APY: 5.18% (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: $250k
– HQ: San Francisco Bay Area
– Founded: 2017
– Banking service providers: Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust
– Raised $152M (Crunchbase) including $120M in 2021
– Valuation: $1.7B (based on July 2021 round)
– Website visits: 1.9 million (July 2023; SimilarWeb) <<<< Most website traffic
– Employees: 669 (Pitchbook), down 121 since June
– Articles: 20 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 25,000 followers (668 employees, up 12 since June)
– iOS app: 4.9 (2,200 reviews, up 300 since June)
– Trustpilot: 3.7 (620 reviews, up 7 from June)
2. Lili
FAB Score = 104 (+12)
Top APY: 4.15% (10 Sep 2023)
Minimum Balance: none
Maximum balance: $100,000 (no interest above $100,000)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Banking service provider: Choice Financial Group
– Raised $80M including $55M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 250,000 (SimilarWeb, July 2023)
– Employees: 105 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 18 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 11,000 followers (216 employees, up 103 since June)
– TikTok: 240,000 followers; 600,000 likes (unchanged)
– Trustpilot: 4.7 (2,260 reviews, up 180 since June)
3. Relay
FAB Score: 75
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2018
– Partner bank: Thread
Traction
– Raised $19.4M including $15M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 390,000 (SimilarWeb, July 2023)
– Employees: 128 (Pitchbook), up 33 since June
Social
– Linkedin: 4,500 followers (125 employees, up 10 since June)
– TrustPilot: 4.6 (959 reviews, up 185)
– iOS: 4.7 (488 reviews, up 114)
4. Grasshopper Bank
FAB Score = 48 (up 9)
Top APY: 2.25% (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: $25k
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $162M including $30M Aug 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Assets: $620 million (12/31/22), 2.1x growth year over year (source: company)
– Deposits: $550 million (12/31/22), 2.2x growth year over year
– Loans: $450 million (12/31/22), 3.6x growth year over year
– Revenues: $17 million (2022), 2.4x growth year over year
– Website visits: 80,000 (SimilarWeb, July 2023)
– Employees: 101 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 21 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 19,000 followers (110 employees, up 4)
– Trustpilot: 3.0 (42 reviews, up 5)
5. LiveOak Bank
FAB Score = 47 (down 21)
Top APY: 4.0% (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: $30k
HQ: Wilmington, NC
Founded: 2008
Raised: $75 million (Crunchbase)
Valuation: $1.5B (Public; 15 Aug 2023)
Website visits: 150,000 (Similarweb, July 2023)
Employees: 886 (Pitchbook), unchanged
Articles: 2 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 17,000 followers (919 employees, up 1)
Trustpilot: 4.3 (67 reviews, up 15)
6. Baselane
FAB Score: 27 (down 1)
Top APY: 4.25% (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: none
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2020
– Banking service provider: Blue Ridge Bank
– Raised: $7.9M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Employees: 29 (Linkedin), up for since June
– Articles: 5 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 99,000 (SimilarWeb, July 2023)
– Linkedin: 1,500 followers (29 employees, up 4)
7. Meow
FAB Score: 26
Top APY: 5.0% Treasuries/4.55% FDIC insured (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: none
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2021
– Banking service provider: Third Coast Bank
– Raised: $27 million (Crunchbase)
– Employees: 27 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Website visits: 35,000 (SimilarWeb, July 2023)
– Linkedin: 3,700 followers (167 employees, up 20 since June)
8. Zamp
FAB Score = 21 (unchanged)
Top APY: 5.40% (26 June 2023)
Minimum Balance: $100k
Founded: 2022
HQ: India
Funding: $25M (Crunchbase)
Employees: 28 employees (Linkedin)
Website traffic: 13,000 (July 2023, SimilarWeb)
Linkedin: 3,100 followers (35 employees, up 4)
9. Mayfair
FAB Score = 15 (down 1)
Top APY: 4.42% (26 June 2023)
Minimum balance: $2.5k
Founded: 2021
HQ: San Francisco
Funding: $14M (Crunchbase)
Employees: 106 (Linkedin)
Website traffic: 6,100 (July 2023, SimilarWeb)
Articles: 1 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 8,600 followers (86 employees, down 20 since June)
Notes:
* 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.
**APY: Rate advertised at the time of publishing. May require a minimum deposit as listed in the next column.
***Funding: Includes equity and debt funding per Crunchbase.
****Meow offers an FDIC-insured product (rate on right) or direct investment in T-bills (rate on left)
*****Lili increased rate from 2.0 to 4.15% in September 2023
Disclaimer:
Our business model depends on revenue from referrals and sponsors. When you see a referral link in the URL, we may earn a fee when a new account is started (thanks!). This can improve visibility on our website, but does not impact the company’s FAB score.
