On March 30, leading fintech bank Cross River announced another successful funding round of $620 million, co-led by Andressen Horowitz and Eldridge Capital.
The Fort Lee, NJ-based fintech partner (across the river from Manhattan) powering the likes of Affirm and Coinbase, is valued at more than $3 billion.
“Cross River is powering the future digital economy and changing lives by reinventing how financial services are accessed,” Gilles Gade, Founder, President, and CEO, said.
“The quality of the investor group and size of our latest funding make this a landmark transaction in the financial technology arena and will enable us to accelerate the growth of Cross River as the foundation of modern finance.”
Cross River is a well-known name in the LendIt ecosystem, launching fintech products from the startup phase to stardom through renowned advisory, venture, compliance, and bank charter abilities. The firm won the 2021 LendIt Fintech CryptoFin award for their best-in-class application of crypto tech in trad finance, like their Coinbase partnership.
Cross River: Banking partner and more
In 2022, the prize proves well granted, as exemplified last week when the firm teamed up with Chainalysis for better compliance and crypto transaction tech to make it easier for crypto companies to build with Cross River.
“As a technology company with the established expertise of a bank, Cross River is providing the essential infrastructure for the future of finance and enabling companies to empower customers with a full suite of fintech solutions,” Todd Boehly, Co-founder and CEO of Eldridge, said. “We are excited to support Gilles and his team with their continued global expansion.”
FT Partners, the “only investment banking firm focused exclusively on the financial technology sector,” served as an exclusive advisor in the transaction. Other funds participated, like T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Whale Rock, Hanako Ventures, and many of Cross Rivers’s previous investors.
It’s a significant step up from previous funding rounds. The firm raised about $100 million Series B in 2018 and a $28–100M Series C in 2020, before a $106 M 2020 debt financing deal.
In 2016, Cross River raised its $28 million Series A led by Battery Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ribbit Capital. Overall, they have raised more than $82 million in net capital, building a team of more than 800 employees.
Every company can be a fintech company
“Cross River enables every company to become a fintech company, a vision we are bullish about at a16z and another reason why we’ve been committed to Cross River since the early days of the business,” David George, GP of the Growth Fund at Andreessen Horowitz said.
“Their technology has unlocked opportunities across the entire fintech ecosystem, providing trusted and efficient integrations to their partners.”
According to its website, Cross River has originated $46 billion in loans since its 2008 inception and has worked with over 375,000 businesses to secure PPP loans.
The new funds will go toward building new tech and infrastructure, the company said, across four categories:
- build more embedded payments, cards, lending, and crypto solutions;
- Investing in its people and communities;
- continuing to execute against plans for international expansion,
- build more strategic partnerships toward reshaping global finance, and promoting inclusion.
“We’re proud to continue to support this team on their mission to reinvent the way financial services are delivered in the U.S. and around the world,” Geroge said.
