Synapse
Also a provider — view Synapse’s profile →“Can a non-bank middleware layer safely sit between fintechs and sponsor banks at scale — and what happens when ledger reconciliation breaks?”
Synapse was founded in 2014 as a banking-as-a-service platform (the self-styled 'AWS of banking') connecting fintechs to sponsor banks for deposits, card issuance, ACH, and credit. After raising $51M from a16z and others, it expanded into Credit Hub (2021, with Mastercard) and Global Cash (2022). Reconciliation failures between Synapse's ledger and partner banks (notably Evolve Bank & Trust) caused a liquidity crisis, leading to Chapter 11 in April 2024 and a months-long freeze of ~10M consumer accounts at downstream fintechs (Yotta, Juno, Mercury historically). The collapse became the defining cautionary tale for the US BaaS middleware model.