Stark Bank
“Can a developer-first API bank become the default financial rails for Brazil's high-growth companies?”
Founded2018
HQSão Paulo, Brazil
FoundersRafael Stark
Total raised$60.1M
Latest roundSeries A, 2021
IndustryFintech / SMB banking
The story
Founded 2018 as Brazil's first banking API, Stark Bank positioned itself from day one as a developer-first challenger bank for high-growth startups and enterprises. Rather than a consumer neobank, it built REST APIs for Pix, boleto, TED, cards, and payables — becoming banking infrastructure for companies like QuintoAndar, Loft, and Bitso. The 2026 launch of ARC signals a shift toward agentic AI as the interface layer for corporate banking.
Product timeline
2018
Founded in São Paulo by Rafael Stark as a developer-focused challenger bank for Brazilian startups and enterprises· banking
2021
Series A led by Lachy Groom and K5 Global· funding
2022
$45M round led by Ribbit Capital with Bezos Expeditions participation· funding
2025
Moved R$600 billion through its API in 2025· milestone
2026
Launched ARC by Stark, an AI agent for banking operations at Stark Event 2026· product
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Stark Bank
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
7 layers disclosed in Stark Bank’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Stark Bank (self-operated)
Money movement
in the full report
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
6 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.