Lead Bank has hit a $1.47 billion valuation after raising $70 million to serve fintech and crypto firms.
New investors Iconiq and Greycroft joined existing backers Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Khosla Ventures, Andreesen Horowitz, and Zeev Ventures in the round.
Lead is a 97-year-old Kansas City, Missouri-based community bank that was acquired in 2022 by a team of tech executives for $56 million and retooled to service fintechs and crypto firms.
It has been building a banking-as-a-service platform that delivers programmable products designed for direct integration into transaction workflows — enabling fintechs, consumer, and digital asset companies to scale with compliance.
Recently it partnered with Stripe and Visa to power their stablecoin-linked payment card platform. In July, workplace payments platform Branch added Lead as a strategic banking partner.
“The fastest growing fintechs want to work with a bank that moves at their speed, without compromising on risk or compliance,” says Jackie Reses, CEO, Lead Bank. “We’re grateful to our investors, new and old, for seeing the future as we do - one where we can use technology and creativity to elevate banking standards and drive more innovation in finance.”