Increase launches bank to simplify fintech payments

Increase has launched Increase Bank, bringing its banking operations into the same business as its existing payments infrastructure.

The move adds a chartered, FDIC-member bank to a fintech infrastructure provider whose software is already used by companies including Ramp, Stripe and Gusto to move and hold funds.

The company said the combination is aimed at fintech groups and software platforms that need direct access to regulated banking services alongside the technology they use to connect with payment networks. In practice, one provider now handles both the bank relationship and the systems customers use to manage accounts, payments and card activity.

Banks play a central role in US payments, sitting between businesses and rails such as ACH, wire systems and Visa. Many fintech companies rely on sponsor banks and outside processors to reach those rails, a model that can add operational complexity when products need to be built or changed quickly.

Increase has operated as a banking infrastructure company since 2020. It says its systems support the movement of hundreds of billions of dollars in payments on an annualised basis and are used for tasks including wage payments, working capital flows and healthcare billing.

The company says its technology acts as the system of record for account balances and transactions, reconciling with the Federal Reserve in real time. It also says it has direct connections to the Federal Reserve, The Clearing House and Visa through its bank and core systems.

Integrated model

The launch reflects a broader push in financial technology to gain more control over the layers beneath consumer and business finance products. For many fintech firms, dependence on multiple vendors and partner banks can slow product roll-outs, complicate compliance processes and make it harder to tailor services for specific customer groups.

By combining a regulated institution with its software platform, Increase is presenting a model in which fintech clients can work with one organisation for both bank services and technical integration. That approach has become more significant as fintech companies seek stability in bank partnerships and closer oversight of how money moves through their products.

Founder Darragh Buckley started Increase after working at Stripe, where he was the company's first employee and helped build its financial operations in the early years. Increase says that background shaped its focus on designing banking systems for software-led financial businesses rather than adapting older bank technology for newer use cases.

"This is a bank built by a team of product-obsessed operators for ambitious companies that are just as obsessed with building the best possible products for their customers," said Darragh Buckley, Founder of Increase.

"It is programmable at scale and designed for reliability, speed and flexibility," Buckley said.

Fintech demand

The launch comes as fintech remains a large and expanding part of the technology sector. Increase cited an estimate that the industry generated more than USD $650 billion in revenue in 2025, with annual growth of about 21 per cent.

That growth has increased pressure on the banks and infrastructure providers behind fintech apps, payments businesses and software platforms. As these businesses expand, they often need more control over account opening, transaction handling, reconciliation and settlement across different payment methods.

Industry participants have also faced closer scrutiny of bank-fintech arrangements in the United States, particularly where responsibilities are split across several parties. In that environment, owning more of the operating stack can be presented as a way to reduce hand-offs between providers and give customers a more direct line to the institution holding deposits and accessing payment systems.

Diede van Lamoen, a former Head of International at Stripe and an adviser to Increase, said the quality of a banking partner can shape how quickly a fintech scales.

"A fintech company's ability to scale often comes down to whether they have a banking partner that can move at their pace, build solutions to the edge cases they are solving, and give them direct access to payment rails," said Diede van Lamoen, Adviser at Increase.

"Increase was built by people who have first-hand experience with these challenges and a drive to support users from the first payment to their billionth," van Lamoen said.

Customer base

Increase's existing customer list includes some of the best-known names in US financial software. Ramp, which provides corporate finance tools, is among the companies already using its infrastructure.

Karim Atiyeh, Co-CEO of Ramp, linked Increase's value to the speed with which financial products can be built and updated.

"At Ramp, we are building AI for finance, and we must move fast to save our customers' most valuable resources - time and money. Increase provides the banking infrastructure we need to do just that. From the ability to open accounts synchronously, fully featured for every payment rail, from day one to the pace they ship new features, Increase just gets it," said Karim Atiyeh, Co-CEO of Ramp.

The addition of Increase Bank suggests the company wants to compete more directly in a market where fintech clients are looking for fewer intermediaries and tighter links between regulated banking services and the software they use to run them. It also places Increase among a smaller group of firms trying to combine bank status with infrastructure tools for other financial companies.

Increase says its core technology facilitates the movement of hundreds of billions of dollars in payments each year for customers including Gusto, Ramp and Stripe.