“Can a startup-focused neobank obtain a bank charter and expand into lending, spend management, and consumer banking to become the complete financial OS for growth companies?”
Founded in 2017 as a fintech focused on startup business banking, Mercury built on a partner-bank model with FDIC-insured institutions acting as the licensed entities. After reaching 100K+ business customers, it expanded in 2024 into consumer banking (Mercury Personal), spend management, bill pay, and invoicing — directly challenging Brex and Ramp. In 2025 it launched its own lending subsidiaries (Mercury Lending, LLC) and received conditional OCC approval for a bank charter, signaling a move from a fintech-on-rails model toward becoming a fully licensed bank with in-house infrastructure.
Mercury Beta discloses Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. / Patriot Bank N.A. (sponsor banks) as its banking provider, with Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. / Patriot Bank N.A. as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Mercury Beta does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. / Patriot Bank N.A..
Mercury Beta processes payments through Mercury Payments (self-operated). Disclosed money-movement rails: ACH.
Mercury Beta's lending and capital products are provided by Mercury Lending, LLC (in-house).
Mercury Beta's investing and wealth products are powered by Betterment at Work.
Mercury Beta integrates with QuickBooks, NetSuite and Xero.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Mercury Beta's stack: Payments / PSP (Mercury Payments (self-operated)); Money movement (ACH); Banking / BaaS (Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. / Patriot Bank N.A. (sponsor banks)); Lending (Mercury Lending, LLC (in-house), Mercury Working Capital (ecommerce working capital loan) and Mercury Venture Debt); Sponsor bank (Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. / Patriot Bank N.A.); Investing (Betterment at Work); Accounting (QuickBooks, NetSuite and Xero); Treasury (Mercury Treasury (self-operated via Mercury Advisory, LLC), Mercury Treasury, Apex Clearing and Mercury Treasury (lower-risk mutual funds via Apex Clearing)).
Mercury Beta was founded by Immad Akhund, Max Tagher and Jason Zhang and is founded in 2017, headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Mercury Beta has raised ~$700M (primary and secondary) in total (latest round: Series D, 2025; valuation: $5.2B post-money (2025)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Mercury Beta 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.