Finovate Blog

In a round led by Progressive Investment Company, Northern California-based fintech One has secured $40 million in Series B funding. The investment gives the company, founded in 2019 , total capital of $66 million and will be used to help drive customer growth, expand on the company’s offerings, and add talent to the One team.

Also participating in the Series B were Obvious Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Core Innovation Capital.

One is designed to help middle class families and individuals better manage their finances – without spending money on fees or requiring minimum balances. The company offers a high-yield savings account with a 1.00% APY, free ACH bank transfers, access to 55,000 no-fee Allpoint ATMs, and early access to earned wages when enrolled in direct deposit. One’s Pockets feature helps middle class families better organize their finances and pay bills by managing their money in Spend, Save, and Auto-Save categories. The latter Auto-Save category enables One accountholders to earn 3.00% APY on up to 10% of their direct deposit amount up to $1,000 per month.

“Stretched middle-income households and working families deal with financial stress on a daily basis and are largely unsupported by current offerings,” One CEO Brian Hamilton explained. “Every day we are marching towards changing this landscape to better serve customers and challenge the antiquated practices and uncompetitive pricing of traditional banking products. One offers features that can make a lasting financial impact for hard working people.”

In addition to helping accountholders better manage the money they make and save, One also offers tools such as its Credit Builder solution to enable them to improve their ability to secure affordable financing. Credit Builder allows accountholders to automatically build (or rebuild) their credit scores every time they use their One card. After linking their card to their Credit Builder Pocket, accountholders will automatically have money subtracted from their Credit Builder Pocket’s available balance and have those funds held back in order to make a complete, on-time and in-full payment to cover the cost of the transaction. As these payments are reported to primary credit bureaus, the account holder benefits from the positive impact the consistent, on-time payments have on their credit score.

Accountholders who are not eligible for Credit Builder can take advantage of One’s Credit Line offering. The Credit Line offering gives accountholders a low-cost, flexible financing option with a monthly grace period before interest (1% per month or 12% APR) is owed.

One was founded by Hamilton and former Intuit and PayPal CEO Bill Harris, who was also the founding CEO of Personal Capital. The company’s banking services are provided courtesy of Coastal Community Bank, an FDIC institution. One claims that its accountholders have saved more than $2 million via its auto-saving feature since the company’s launch.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

Remember when we mentioned that niche banking is here to stay? Cementing that fact is Nerve, 2021’s newest digital bank.

Nerve differentiates itself by serving a unique customer segment– independent musicians. Available in both English and Spanish, the mobile bank helps musical artists “build stronger communities and sustainable careers” to help them manage their finances and plan for the future.

Co-founded by fintech veterans John Waupsh and Ben Morrison, Nerve is partnering with Piermont Bank to offer FDIC-insured business debit and savings accounts that will help users separate business and personal finances. The mobile bank also provides artists streaming and social follower data, access to 55,000 free ATMs, and free instant payments to other Nerve accountholders. Unique to Nerve is the bank’s private networking feature that helps professional musicians discover others in their field, network, and collaborate.

“Financial empowerment for musicians means giving them a banking platform that understands their unique needs with the tools to help them better manage their money,” said Waupsh. “Musicians and bands at all stages of their development need smart financial management, access to the real-time data that drives their business, not to mention two-minute digital account opening, and collaboration and business banking features to run their brands effectively.”

In addition to providing musicians with banking tools, Nerve is also piloting a music streaming app called Nerve FM. The app allows creators to earn subscription revenue from their audio and video content. Musicians keep up to 80 percent of the revenue generated from subscribers who stream their music. The best part is that the musicians get to keep all the user data as well. Move over, Spotify.

Nerve launches in the U.S. on September 15. You can catch Waupsh on stage at FinovateFall next month speaking on the neobanking panel on September 13. Register today or check out the FinovateFall homepage to learn more.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash