Ex-Stripe Founder Launches Increase Bank from Community Charter

The bank's one physical branch in Longview, Washington, continues to do business under the Twin City Bank name. Banking services at that location are now offered by Increase Bank doing business as Twin City Bank. The company received subsequent regulatory approvals for a name change and business plan change, a spokesperson said.

Increase, founded in 2020 after Buckley left Stripe, offers money movement APIs to fintechs including Ramp and Stripe itself. Its new banking core now connects directly to the Federal Reserve, The Clearing House and Visa, according to a company statement. A company spokesperson confirmed that Increase gained its own Federal Reserve master account through the acquisition. Increase's technology maintains the system of record for account balances and reconciles to the Fed through the FedNow rail system.

"Increase Bank is the bank I needed at Stripe," Buckley said in a LinkedIn post.

Before the acquisition, Increase relied on sponsor banks – Grasshopper Bank, First Internet Bank of Indiana and Core Bank. Those partnerships continue. The new charter gives Increase more control. Davis said the company can "potentially move faster, retain more of the economics tied to deposits and payments and give customers more confidence that the banking layer is strategically committed to the platform."

He added that Increase does not need to abandon its partner-bank model. "It can keep working with outside banks while using Increase Bank as a proprietary channel, giving it diversification and flexibility as the platform grows."

Fintech and banking consultant Annie DeStefano told American Banker that as the financial services ecosystem grows, fintechs are exploring different ways to work with community banks. "New strategic options and paths will emerge," she said. "There is space for all the model types to work together, the map will be redrawn with new specificity about which models make sense where."