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Varo

“Can Varo — the only OCC-chartered consumer neobank — leverage its banking license to profitably serve financially underserved Americans without a sponsor bank intermediary?”

Founded2015
HQSalt Lake City, Utah (corporate office also listed at San Francisco, CA)
FoundersColin Walsh
Total raised$1B+
Latest roundSeries G (partial close), February 2025
Valuation$1.85B post-money (2023 Series F/equity round)
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story

Founded in 2015 as a mobile banking app for underserved Americans, Varo initially operated as a fintech on top of The Bancorp Bank's charter. It pursued and won a full OCC national bank charter in 2020 — a landmark first for a consumer neobank — eliminating its dependency on a sponsor bank and allowing it to hold deposits directly. After raising over $1 billion cumulatively and reaching a $2.5B peak valuation in 2021, Varo faced a down round in 2023 and a difficult fundraising environment. In 2025, founder CEO Colin Walsh stepped down, replaced by Gavin Michael, as the company works to reach profitability on a leaner cost base.

Last 12 months
2024-08
2024-03
2025-02
Product timeline
2015
Varo Money founded in San Francisco by Colin Walsh; initial funding from Warburg Pincus.· pivot
2017
Mobile banking app launched; accounts opened in partnership with The Bancorp Bank (sponsor bank).· banking
2019
Applied for OCC national bank charter; launched no-fee overdraft protection up to $50.· banking
2020
Varo Bank, N.A. became first consumer de novo neobank to receive a full OCC national bank charter.· banking
2024
Launched Varo Line of Credit (up to $2,000) and in-app budgeting tools; signed five-year exclusive card issuing deal with Marqeta.· lending
2025
Founder/CEO Colin Walsh replaced by Gavin Michael; partial Series G close of $29M against $55M target.· pivot
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Varo
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
Same company
Varo was analysed under more than one name on the same domain, so its stack is split across these dossiers. Each was analysed independently and may name providers the others do not.
Varo Money3 layers →
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Varo’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Varo Bank (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
6 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.