Fintech Increase Acquires Bank Charter, Eliminating BaaS Middleware That Broke Synapse
What's happening
Increase, the banking infrastructure fintech founded by Stripe's first employee Darragh Buckley, has acquired a community bank in Washington state and launched Increase Bank. The move makes Increase a regulated bank combining a "modern bank core" and its existing APIs to offer embedded banking services and remove the need for middleware; company messaging says the bank is built on infrastructure that powers "hundreds of billions" in money movement. The acquisition was presented as the culmination of a six-year plan to marry a bank and a technology company and to help fintechs build financial products with more speed, precision, and control.
Why it's trending
This is rising because Increase just moved from BaaS/middleware reliance to owning a bank, a structural shift for fintech infrastructure.
SignalHolding at its usual pace, confirmed across 1 independent source type.
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Owning a bank is not a step back into legacy finance, it's Increase's shortcut to killing the broken BaaS middleware model that sank Synapse, and competitors who keep renting will pay for it later.
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Original sources12
- Increase launches FDIC-member bank for FinTech builders
Increase, a banking infrastructure and API provider used by FinTech companies including Gusto, Ramp and Stripe, has launched Increase Bank, an FDIC-member banking institution designed to provide technology companies with programmable banking infrastructure. The new bank combines regulated banking services with Increase’s modern banking technology stack, giving FinTech companies direct connections
FinTech GlobalJul 31 - Fintech Increase buys a bank in Washington stateBanking DiveJul 30
- Founder of fintech Increase buys a bank in Washington state
Increase founder Darragh Buckley said the move was a long time coming, as he started the company six years ago with the goal of marrying a bank and technology company.
Banking DiveJul 30
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