“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.
Synapse discloses Synapse (in-house BaaS middleware over sponsor banks) as its banking provider, with Evolve Bank & Trust as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Synapse does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Evolve Bank & Trust.
Synapse processes payments through ACH (self-operated via sponsor banks), Wires (self-operated via sponsor banks), Checks (self-operated via sponsor banks), Bill Pay (self-operated) and Card processing (Mastercard network). Disclosed money-movement rails: ACH.
Synapse's cards are issued through Synapse Issuing (in-house, Mastercard and Visa network).
Synapse's lending and capital products are provided by Synapse Credit Hub (in-house, network partner Mastercard).
Synapse runs its ledger on Synapse (in-house ledger).
Synapse uses Synapse Global Cash (in-house) for FX and cross-border payouts.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Synapse's stack: Payments / PSP (ACH (self-operated via sponsor banks), Wires (self-operated via sponsor banks), Checks (self-operated via sponsor banks), Bill Pay (self-operated) and 1 other); Money movement (ACH); Banking / BaaS (Synapse (in-house BaaS middleware over sponsor banks)); Card issuing (Synapse Issuing (in-house, Mastercard and Visa network)); Ledger (Synapse (in-house ledger)); Lending (Synapse Credit Hub (in-house, network partner Mastercard), Credit Hub, Open Loans, Revolving Loans and 2 others); Sponsor bank (Evolve Bank & Trust); FX & payouts (Synapse Global Cash (in-house)).
Synapse was founded by Sankaet Pathak and Bryan Keltner and is founded in 2014, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA.
Synapse has raised $51M in total (latest round: Series B, 2019).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Synapse 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.