May 12, 2026FundingUS

Lead Bank Raises $70M Series B at $1.47B Valuation

Lead Bank closed a $70 million Series B funding round on Sep 04, 2025, valuing the Kansas City-based bank at $1.47 billion post-money. ICONIQ and Greycroft joined as new investors. Existing backers Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Khosla Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Zeev Ventures also participated.

CEO Jackie Reses led the current management team's acquisition of Lead Bank in 2022 for $56 million. The bank operates a banking-as-a-service platform serving fintechs and digital asset companies. In April 2025, Lead partnered with Stripe and Visa as the bank powering their stablecoin-linked payment card platform.

In July 2025, workplace payments platform Branch added Lead as a banking partner.

Entities

Lead BankBank IconiqInvestor GreycroftInvestor Andreessen HorowitzInvestor Khosla VenturesInvestor Ribbit CapitalInvestor CoatueInvestor Zeev VenturesInvestor AffirmFintech RampFintech StripeFintech VisaFintech PrelimFintech Luna Parent Inc.Fintech

Implications

Unicorn valuation for a state-chartered BaaS bank signals sustained investor confidence in regulated embedded finance infrastructure despite broader fintech funding headwinds.
Lead Bank's partnerships with Affirm, Ramp, Stripe, and Visa position it as a critical infrastructure layer for embedded payments and lending, intensifying competition among BaaS providers.