FinTech News

Investment App Stash Announces $112 Million Round

Late last year, the discount brokerage world saw a sea change as Charles Schwab and several other firms announced that they were dropping their trade commissions to $0. Although the move was likely aimed at FinTechs like Robinhood that had already been offering fee-free trades for years, it seems that it only widened the net of investors looking into Schwab, SoFi Invest, and others. Among the FinTech brokerages that have continued to thrive in this brave new world is Stash — as evidenced by their latest funding round.

This week, Stash announced that it had closed an impressive $112 million round. The Series F included participation from online loan marketplace LendingTree, Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, Greenspring Associates, Union Square Ventures, as well as funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

As Stash notes, the closing of the latest round comes as their investment platform has recently seen some major milestones. Earlier this month the company announced that that it reached $1 billion in managed assets. Notably, that figure comes even as Stash retains an average deposit amount of just $28. Speaking of deposits, Stash saw a 100% increase in weekly customer deposits (between its banking and investment products) during the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile the FinTech also reports that their debit card product has issued more than 10 million Stock-Back rewards since the feature was introduced last year.

Commenting on the company’s success, Stash co-founder and CEO Brandon Krieg said in a statement, “We are very fortunate to bring together world class investors, to help accelerate Stash’s goal of bringing digital banking, investing plus financial education and advice to the millions of middle class Americans working hard every day to make ends meet. This massive group has attempted to make financial progress within a system that simply does not serve their best interests or meet their needs.  It’s time for them to reconsider the current financial servicing industry as the ‘status-quo’ and take control of their financial life with the customer-obsessed solutions we provide at Stash.” As for LendingTree, in a press release of their own regarding the investment, the company’s founder and CEO Doug Lebda said,  “LendingTree has become increasingly focused on the asset side of the consumer’s balance sheet, and Stash is a pioneer in that space.” Ledba went on to discuss the potential for the two companies to partner, stating, “Stash is fiercely pro-consumer in both its product offering and mission, and we see countless synergies between our organizations. With LendingTree’s customer reach, marketing breadth, and comprehensive credit and debt offerings, and Stash’s focus on education and advice around saving and investing, we can help the consumer and each other.”

It’s worth noting that, in their press release, LendingTree reveals that its $80 million investment was made on February 28th — in other words, before lockdowns took over most of the country. Therefore this may not exactly be a case of investments continuing in spite of the COVID-19 crisis but of beating the clock in that regard. Nevertheless, Stash’s Series F continues a string of encouraging FinTech funding rounds while also raising the company’s profile. With Robinhood taking their fair share of lumps as of late, perhaps this latest injection of cash can help Stash make a bigger splash.

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