“Can a venture-backed startup banking platform out-Mercury Mercury by owning the debt-raise workflow on top of treasury and yield?”
Founded in 2021 as a SaaS-startup-focused digital banking platform, Arc launched on Stripe Treasury rails with Arc Advance, a revenue-based financing product converting future SaaS revenue into upfront capital. Over 2023-2024 it pivoted away from being the direct lender toward a debt marketplace (Arc Capital Markets) that brokers introductions to third-party lenders, while continuing to operate Treasury cash management with yield via money market funds and T-Bills through Atomic Brokerage and its own RIA, Arc Advisory LLC. Today Arc positions itself as a financial OS for venture-backed tech companies — cash management + debt marketplace + AI-driven capital intelligence.
Arc discloses Stripe Treasury and Fifth Third Bank as its banking providers, with Evolve Bank & Trust and Celtic Bank as its sponsor banks, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Arc does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Evolve Bank & Trust and Celtic Bank.
Arc processes payments through Stripe.
Arc's cards are issued through Stripe Issuing and Celtic Bank.
Arc's lending and capital products are provided by Arc Capital Markets (in-house).
Arc's investing and wealth products are powered by Atomic Brokerage and Arc Advisory LLC (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Arc's stack: Payments / PSP (Stripe); Banking / BaaS (Stripe Treasury and Fifth Third Bank); Card issuing (Stripe Issuing and Celtic Bank); Lending (Arc Capital Markets (in-house), Arc Advance (revenue-based financing), Arc Working Capital (formerly Advance Plus), Arc Capital Markets (debt marketplace / brokerage) and 1 other); Sponsor bank (Fifth Third Bank, Evolve Bank & Trust and Celtic Bank); Investing (Atomic Brokerage and Arc Advisory LLC (in-house)); Spend / AP (Arc Card (in-house, issued by Celtic Bank)); Treasury (Arc Treasury (in-house), Atomic Brokerage, Evolve Bank & Trust, Partner FDIC sweep network institutions and 1 other).
Arc was founded by Don Muir and is founded in 2021, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA.
Arc has raised $181M+ (incl. $150M debt facility) in total (latest round: Series A, 2022).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Arc and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.