Two physicians drowning in student debt kept getting rejected by traditional banks. So they recruited a Wall Street analyst and built the lender they wished existed - one that treats a doctor's diploma as an asset, not a liability.
Vast Bank became a national curiosity by putting crypto beside checking. Its more durable proposition is quieter: a Tulsa bank that mixes modern tools with bankers who still answer the phone.
A Cleveland bank with roots older than most of the states it serves is leaning into middle-market companies, digital lending, and a $2.8 billion vote of confidence from Scotiabank. Here is how KeyBank actually makes money - and who it makes money for.
Deferred is a technology-powered Qualified Intermediary (QI) that facilitates 1031 real estate exchanges without charging a service fee. Instead of billing customers, it holds exchange funds in FDIC-insured, segregated accounts and shares a portion of the interest those funds earn back with clients. The platform pairs veteran QI staff with software that drafts exchange documents, tracks the strict 45- and 180-day IRS deadlines, and offers ARTE, an AI assistant trained on thousands of pages of tax law. Founded in 2024 by the team behind Open Listings and Balance Homes, Deferred aims to give individual real estate investors access to a tax strategy long dominated by institutions.
Modak (Modak Makers) is a San Francisco Bay Area fintech that gives kids and teens a no-fee Visa debit card paired with a gamified money app for families. Parents fund the card, assign chores, and monitor spending from a dashboard, while kids earn in-app rewards points called Mobucks (MBX) for completing challenges, walking, and learning good money habits. Founded in 2022 by ex-GGV Capital investor Madhu Yalamarthi and backed by a $5.3M seed round, Modak positions itself as a lower-cost, rewards-driven alternative to Greenlight and GoHenry, and says it serves 30,000+ families.
MovoCash, Inc. (MOVO) is a Palo Alto-based financial technology company founded in 2014 by veteran financial-industry entrepreneur Eric Solis. MOVO offers an on-demand mobile banking app that lets people instantly create FDIC-insured accounts and disposable virtual debit cards, send peer-to-peer payments, pay bills, and make contactless purchases from their phone - even without a traditional bank account. Built on its patented HyperBIN digital-token technology and delivered with Mastercard and Coastal Community Bank, MOVO positions itself as a 'digital cash' network that blends payment cards, bank accounts, and mobile money movement.
Común is a New York-based digital bank built Spanish-first for immigrants in the United States. It offers an FDIC-insured checking account, a Visa debit card, low-cost cross-border remittances, Zelle access, and one of the largest cash-deposit networks in the country - all openable without a Social Security number. Founded in late 2021 by Mexican immigrants Andrés Santos and Abiel Gutiérrez, Común set out to fix the financial exclusion they experienced firsthand, and it has grown into one of the fastest-growing consumer fintechs serving the Latino community.
Rho is a New York-based financial technology company that bundles business banking, corporate cards, treasury, accounts payable automation, and expense management into a single fee-free platform. Built for startups, mid-market companies, and accounting firms, Rho positions itself as a 'financial operating system' that replaces the patchwork of legacy banks and disconnected finance tools that growing companies usually stitch together.
Lead Bank is a state-chartered, FDIC-insured commercial bank turned API-first Banking-as-a-Service platform. Acquired in 2022 by an investor group led by former Square Capital chief Jackie Reses, the 1928-vintage Missouri community bank now provides regulated banking infrastructure - payments, card issuing, lending, and deposit accounts - to fintechs, consumer brands, and digital-asset companies.