Sunrise Banks joined The BaaS Association on March 21, 2023, to support education, compliance, and standards for Banking-as-a-Service. The bank emphasizes serving underbanked communities through its fintech partnerships. Jason Hagan, SVP director of fintech innovation, highlighted the association's value for fintech-minded banks. The move aligns with broader BaaS ecosystem growth among U.S. sponsor banks.
Unit, a NYC-based Banking-as-a-Service platform, raised $100M in a Series C round led by Coatue Management, reaching a valuation of approximately $1.2B. The company had previously raised $158M and focuses on enabling embedded finance for SMBs. The round was notable as the largest BaaS funding event in March 2023 amid a broader fintech funding downturn.
Credable, a digital banking infrastructure startup focused on emerging markets, secured funding to expand its embedded banking platform. The company enables businesses to offer savings, loans, and overdrafts to unbanked customers through bank partnerships. With over 1.2 million accounts opened, Credable positions itself as a Unit-like BaaS provider for developing economies.
The OCC confirmed that Protego Trust Company's conditional approval for a national trust bank charter expired after the crypto firm failed to meet pre-conversion requirements. Protego had originally received conditional approval in February 2021, which was extended to February 2023. The firm could not secure $54 million in tier 1 capital and liquidity or finalize necessary policies and systems. Anchorage Digital remains the only crypto firm holding an active OCC national banking charter.
Entities: Protego Trust Company · Office of the Comptroller of the Currency · Anchorage Digital
Payabli raised an $8M funding extension to grow its unified API platform for payment acceptance, issuance, and operations. The round builds on a prior $4M seed and supports the company's PayTech infrastructure offering. The platform enables embedded payments for software companies and payment facilitators.
Treasury Prime launched OneKey Banking, an API product unlocking its network of 15+ bank partners for instant cross-bank transfers and deposit optimization. The product enabled over $350 million in deposits within its first month, strengthening Treasury Prime's position as a BaaS middleware provider.
Synctera, a BaaS platform that builds sponsor-bank networks, raised $15.5M in a Series A extension led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Neo. The round brought total funding to $36M. The investment came amid growing regulatory scrutiny on BaaS partnerships and sponsor-bank relationships.
Astra Tech's PayBy secured a Mastercard principal membership license enabling it to issue prepaid and debit cards and act as an acquirer in the UAE. The deal allows PayBy to provide BIN sponsorship services to third-party fintechs for issuing prepaid cards via Mastercard's network. This expands embedded financial services to over 100 million BOTIM users.
Intellect Design Arena launched eMACH.ai on March 13, 2023, described as the world's largest open finance platform with 285 microservices and 1,214 APIs. The cloud-native platform covers core banking, lending, cards, payments, treasury, and digital banking. It targets financial institutions seeking composable, API-driven architectures for embedded finance and open banking.
PwC and FintechOS announced a collaboration to support PwC's Infinite Financial Solutions for Banking. FintechOS serves as the integration layer for low-code product configuration, Open Banking, and payments, accelerating digital transformation for banking clients.
Neobank HMBradley partnered with New York Community Bank (NYCB), a division of Flagstar Bank, as its new sponsor bank, replacing Hatch Bank. The switch enabled HMBradley to end a 16-month waitlist for over 25,000 users and support scaling deposits toward $1 billion. At the time of the announcement, HMBradley held nearly $600 million in deposits.
Entities: HMBradley · New York Community Bank (NYCB) · Flagstar Bank · Hatch Bank
UK-based Abound raised £500M ($601M) in combined debt and equity funding to scale its open banking-powered consumer lending platform. Debt financing came from Citi and Waterfall Asset Management, while equity investors included K3 Ventures, GSR Ventures, and Hambro Perks. The round builds on prior $11M equity and $60M loan facilities.
Paytrix raised $18.3M in Series A funding led by Unusual Ventures, Motive Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures. The company offers a single API for global payments curation, reducing the need for businesses to manage multiple payment partners. The platform targets high-growth businesses seeking to simplify international payment operations.
Wallester collaborated with BANKZ to rapidly deploy virtual and physical corporate debit Visa cards. The partnership enables BANKZ to offer branded payment products with global acceptance and digital wallet integration. This illustrates the growing demand for white-label card-as-a-service solutions in the BaaS space.
Railsr (formerly Railsbank), a UK and Europe-based BaaS provider, secured $21M in debt financing from Leadenhall Capital. The funding supports the company's global expansion plans. While not equity funding, the debt facility represents significant capital deployment for the embedded finance platform.
Infinant completed a round of financing backed by FintTop Capital and JAM FINTOP BankTech to expand its Interlace platform. The cloud-based platform helps US banks launch and scale banking-as-a-service and embedded finance programs above their core banking systems.
Entities: Infinant · FintTop Capital · JAM FINTOP BankTech
Fiserv partnered with Central Payments to provide issuing capabilities, a BaaS platform, and access to sponsor banks for fintechs and financial institutions. The partnership enables fintechs to launch card and payment programs more efficiently. Central Payments contributes its sponsor bank network and issuing expertise. The deal strengthens Fiserv's position in the BaaS infrastructure market.
Array partnered with FICO to address growing demand for embedded finance products. The collaboration enables companies to integrate FICO's credit scoring and decisioning tools through Array's embedded finance platform. The deal targets businesses looking to embed financial services into their customer experiences. It reflects the expanding role of data and credit intelligence in embedded finance offerings.
Brightwell partnered with Dash Solutions (formerly Prepaid Technologies) to expand its remittance capabilities with enhanced fraud prevention features. The partnership strengthens Brightwell's platform by integrating Dash's security and remittance technology. This deal highlights ongoing BaaS innovation in cross-border payments and payroll services.
First Fidelity Bank and Episode Six announced a next-generation Banking-as-a-Service solution, with Unifimoney as the launch customer. The partnership combines First Fidelity Bank's banking charter with Episode Six's technology platform to power embedded finance offerings. This positions both companies to serve fintechs seeking regulated banking infrastructure.
Entities: First Fidelity Bank · Episode Six · Unifimoney
MELD partnered with Velmie to launch a white-label hybrid banking solution integrating fiat and crypto capabilities. The platform supports DeFi, Web3 features, crypto exchanges, and smart contracts alongside traditional banking functions. This partnership bridges traditional banking infrastructure with decentralized finance.
Unit announced a partnership with Thread Bank to deliver compliance-focused Banking-as-a-Service for fintechs. Unit provides technology infrastructure, project management, and regulatory oversight for products including banking and lending. The partnership emphasizes compliance as a core differentiator in the BaaS market.
CSI announced a BaaS sponsor bank partnership connecting fintech ECHO Health with Anchor Bank. Using CSI's open API platform, ECHO Health leverages Anchor Bank as its sponsor bank to streamline insurance claim disbursements, virtual card payments, and healthcare savings accounts. The partnership demonstrates how middleware providers are enabling community banks to participate in embedded finance.
The Federal Reserve issued a policy statement effective February 7, 2023, limiting state member banks' activities—particularly crypto asset activities—to those permissible for national banks. The statement also requires state member banks to obtain prior supervisory approval before engaging in certain crypto-related activities. This significantly narrows the regulatory pathway for BaaS and embedded finance models built on state-chartered bank crypto capabilities.