Mercury is an American fintech company that provides banking services to early stage start-up companies. The company is not a bank, but works with banking service providers to provide bank accounts and other financial services.[4] The company was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, California.[1]

Mercury
IndustryFinancial technology
Founded2017; 7 years ago (2017)[1]
FoundersImmad Akhund
Max Tagher
Jason Zhang[2]
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
Key people
Immad Akhund (CEO)
Max Tagher (CTO)
Jason Zhang (COO)[2]
ProductsBanking services
Number of employees
470[3] (2023)
Websitemercury.com

History

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Mercury was founded in 2017 by Immad Akhund, Max Tagher, and Jason Zhang.[1] Mercury's business bank launched in 2019.[1] In March 2022, the company began offering venture debt services to its customers.[5] In September 2022, the company launched a corporate charge card.[1]

The company reportedly gained a significant number of new customers and deposits in the wake of the March 2023 Silicon Valley Bank failure.[3]

In June 2024, one of Mercury's partner banks, Evolve Bank & Trust, suffered a major data breach that included account numbers and deposit balances for Mercury accounts.[6] The ransomware group LockBit took credit for the attack.[7]

Business

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Mercury offers banking services to customers, primarily early-stage startups.[8]

The company is not a chartered bank, and is therefore unable to lend against deposits. Instead, it partners with regional bank networks to hold customer's deposits. Its main bank partners are North Dakota-based Choice Bank and Tennessee-based Evolve Bank and Trust, which have a network of regional banks.[9] This network gives customers access to a sweep network of other banks such as Goldman Sachs and Capital One.[4] Customer deposits of up to $5 million can be spread out across multiple accounts that are each under the FDIC's $250,000 insurance limit.[9]

The company provides a corporate credit card called Mercury IO.[10]

The company also operates Mercury Raise, a service connecting customers with investors.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Mason, Emily (September 12, 2022). "Mercury Launches Corporate Charge Card, Entering Crowded Fintech Field That Includes Brex And Ramp". Forbes. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Azevedo, Mary Ann (July 7, 2023). "SVB's collapse drove 26K customers to Mercury in 4 months". Techcrunch. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Kauflin, Jeff (March 15, 2023). "Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Produces An Early Winner: Digital Banks". Forbes. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Azevedo, Mary Ann (March 13, 2023). "Mercury expands FDIC insurance up to $3M through new Vault product". Techcrunch. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  5. ^ Loizos, Connie (March 15, 2022). "Startup banking service Mercury jumps into debt lending to take on Silicon Valley Bank". Techcrunch. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  6. ^ "Arkansas-based Evolve Bank confirms cyber attack and data breach". Reuters. 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  7. ^ Xie, Teresa; Gorrivan, Charles (2024-06-26). "Evolve Bank & Trust Confirms Data Was Stolen in Cyber Attack". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  8. ^ Leffert, Catherine (March 23, 2023). "Mercury and Brex acquired thousands of ex-SVB clients. Will they stay?". American Banker. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Brewster, Lucy (May 11, 2023). "Mercury has attracted depositors after SVB fell. But can it keep them". Fortune. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  10. ^ Mason, Emily. "Mercury Launches Corporate Charge Card, Entering Crowded Fintech Field That Includes Brex And Ramp". Forbes.
  11. ^ Clifford, Catherine (May 16, 2021). "How this 28-year-old is giving unbanked families in Mexico access to solar hot water heaters, washing machines, refrigerators". CNBC.