Mercury, a San Francisco-based digital banking outfit targeting startups, has raised $120m at a $1.62bn valuation in a Series B funding round.
Coatue led the round, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, Sapphire Venture and a host of angels.
In addition, the FinTech is mirroring startups such as Robinhood and Doximity who have added their own clientele to their roster of investors in the initial public offering process. It set aside a $5m allotment for retail investors to join in for as little as $100 a pop on Wefunder, where more than $4m has already been raised.
It’s new $120m war chest is expected to let the company grow magnitudes larger. With 150 employees now, Mercury plans to hire some 200 more over the course of the next year.
Launched in 2019 by Immad Akhund, Mercury offers full-stack bank accounts that help startups scale with features such as cashflow analytics, programmatic payments and instant runway estimates.
While more traditional players like Silicon Valley Bank have cemented themselves as the go-tos for startups, Mercury – which describes itself as a bank for startups – has made inroads by selling customers on its more tech-friendly and fee-less user experience.
The firm already claims more than 40,000 SMB clients, making its money on interchange fees and on the $4bn-plus it holds in customer deposits.
With the new funding in place, Mercury plans to add to its 150-strong headcount and build more products as it aims to “turn banking into something like magic”.
Copyright © 2021 FinTech Global
