Splitwise
“Can a shared-expense ledger app become the default settlement and payment layer for friend-groups by embedding banking, open-banking rails, and a co-branded debit card — without becoming a full neobank?”
Founded in 2011 as a pure ledger app for tracking shared expenses, Splitwise deliberately avoided owning money movement for its first decade, relying on Venmo and other third-party rails for settlement. In 2024 the company pivoted into embedded payments by partnering with Tink for open-banking-powered Pay by Bank in the UK and launching Splitwise Pay — a wallet and Mastercard debit card sponsored by Coastal Community Bank — transforming from a debt-tracking utility into a lightweight consumer fintech stack. Modern Treasury's public customer listing suggests Splitwise also adopted ledger infrastructure to underpin the money-movement layer.