- Challenger bank NorthOne announced a partnership with The Bancorp Bank to launch real-time payments via The Clearing House’s network.
- NorthOne customers initially will be able to receive real-time payments. The ability to send real-time payments will come with “future updates” the company said.
- With offices in New York and Toronto, NorthOne has raised more than $90 million in funding for its deposit account that helps small businesses and freelancers better manage their finances.
U.S.-based challenger bank NorthOne has teamed up with The Bancorp Bank to launch real-time payments via The Clearing House’s Real-Time Payments network.
NorthOne co-founder and CEO Eytan Bensoussan called the new offering a “huge milestone” for both his company as well as for the fintech industry writ large. Bensoussan also underscored the value of real-time payments to NorthOne’s small business customers. “For small business owners, cash flow and liquidity are paramount,” he said. “By removing payment waiting times, we’re able to free up a frustrating technical bottleneck for our customers, making it easier for them to operate their business efficiently.”
Founded in 2016, NorthOne specializes in helping small business owners, startups, and freelancers better manage their finances. The company offers a deposit account that enables users to view full account histories and manage receipts, and provides automatic categorization of purchases. Users can connect their NorthOne accounts to their POS or payment processor to get paid faster, as well as leverage the account to pay invoices, manage payroll, and send ACH or wire payments.
With offices in New York and Toronto, Canada, NorthOne sees the introduction of real-time payments as a way to help the 61% of small businesses that it says are struggling because of poor cash management. The update announced this week will enable NorthOne customers to receive instant payments. The ability to send real-time payments will come as part of a separate, future update.
This week’s product launch is the latest news from NorthOne, which most recently made fintech headlines with a $67 million fundraising in October. The Series B investment featured participation from both new and existing investors, and brought the company’s total equity capital to more than $90 million.
“50% of small businesses in America fail over a five-year time horizon,” NorthOne co-founder and COO Justin Adler said when the company’s latest fundraising was announced last fall. “And the majority of those failures are due to financial mismanagement and a lack of financial systems and controls. Our team is proud to be able to de-risk entrepreneurship and make starting and running a successful small business accessible to anyone.”