# Venture Bank

> Venture Bank was a Bloomington, Minnesota business bank founded in 2001 by two Riverside Bank veterans who were tired of watching big institutions treat small companies as rounding errors. Over 17 years it grew from nine employees and $8 million in capital to roughly $730 million in assets and partnerships with more than 5,000 Twin Cities businesses, built almost entirely around commercial lending, deposits, SBA loans and cash management. In 2018 it was acquired by Fargo-based Choice Financial and rebranded as Choice Bank.

- **Founded:** 2001
- **Headquarters:** Bloomington, Minnesota, United States
- **Founders:** Michael Zenk (Co-founder & President/CEO), Gwen Stanley (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** Launched with 9 employees in 2001; grew to a multi-branch team over 17 years
- **Products:** Business Loans & Commercial Lending, SBA Loans, Business Deposits, Cash Management / Treasury Services, Personal & Retail Banking
- **Notable:** Grew from 9 employees and $8 million in capital in 2001 to roughly $730 million in assets by 2018, Partnered with more than 5,000 Twin Cities businesses, Named to the Star Tribune's Top 150 Workplaces

## Products & services

- **Business Loans & Commercial Lending** — Term loans, lines of credit and project financing for small and mid-sized Twin Cities companies, underwritten with local decision-making.
- **SBA Loans** — Small Business Administration lending to help newer and growing businesses access capital they might not qualify for elsewhere.
- **Business Deposits** — Checking, savings and money-market deposit accounts built for operating companies.
- **Cash Management / Treasury Services** — ACH origination, wire transfers, remote deposit, positive pay, bill pay and merchant services to run day-to-day company finances.
- **Personal & Retail Banking** — Consumer deposit accounts, home and personal loans, and online/mobile banking alongside the core business franchise.

## Achievements

- Grew from 9 employees and $8 million in capital in 2001 to roughly $730 million in assets by 2018
- Partnered with more than 5,000 Twin Cities businesses
- Named to the Star Tribune's Top 150 Workplaces
- Ranked on the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's Fast 50 fastest-growing private companies
- Recognized by S&P Global as a top-performing U.S. community bank in its asset category
- Acquired by Choice Financial in 2018 to form a combined ~$2 billion-asset bank

## Latest updates

- **2018-02** — Choice Financial announced an agreement to acquire Venture Bank, its first entry into the Twin Cities market, backed by more than $100 million in local capital.
- **2018-09** — Venture Bank's four branches were rebranded as Choice Bank, creating a combined institution of roughly $2 billion in assets.

## Links

- Website: https://venturebankonline.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/venture-bank
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/venturebankmn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bankwithchoice/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/venture-bank
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-15