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Venture Capital News: CARD.com Inks $9M In Growth Funding

2015-11-18
SANTA MONICA, CA, Leading online financial services provider, announced today it has received a growth capital facility of $9 million.
CARD.com ('CARD'), a leading online financial services provider, announced today it has received a growth capital facility of $9 million from Columbia Pacific Advisors' Growth Capital strategy and Fenway Summer Ventures. Trusted with over $450 million in deposits to date, this investment will allow CARD to expand its customer base through inventive mobile technology, driving the future of branchless banking.

'CARD has worked to create a product that alleviates the stress of traditional banking and caters to the needs of today's consumer. Aligning with Columbia Pacific Advisors enables us to pursue aggressive growth in our customer base and expand key areas of our infrastructure,' said Ben Katz, CEO and co-founder of CARD. 'Partnering with Fenway Summer Ventures, a leader in regulatory financial technology, further solidifies our commitment to continued leadership in transparent, compliant and fair financial solutions. We are building the equivalent of Netflix for banking, but our competitor isn't Blockbuster video - it's branch banks like Citi or Chase.'

CARD provides an easy and customizable alternative to traditional banking where all one needs is a mobile phone and debit card to maintain an account. In October 2015 alone, CARD opened more than 50,000 new accounts. CARD's next step is to position its mobile first products as the best financial solution for families. For example, a parent with a CARD account may use the mobile app to create sub-accounts for a spouse, teen or babysitter, with each sub-account able to pick their own favorite card design. The sub-accounts remove the need for petty cash and make it easy to manage budgeting or closely track spending.

'CARD has forged the way in providing mobile solutions to replace traditional branch banking and filled a gap in the banking industry when it comes to providing a fair, accessible, personal banking option,' said Jeff Schrock, Managing Director of Columbia Pacific Advisors' Growth Capital strategy. 'The CARD team works tirelessly to provide a mobile experience that appeals to a new generation of smartphone-enabled consumers. We are excited to put our team's operational and financial resources to work to help expand CARD's team and customer base.'

'CARD has cracked the code on how to profitably scale a branchless banking service,' said Raj Date, Managing Director of Fenway Summer Ventures. 'They've managed to open the 'largest branch on the internet' while leaving behind high brick and mortar legacy cost structures. And best of all, they can pass those distribution cost savings on to their customers.'

The company's accounts enable customers to instantaneously deposit funds through their mobile device, with no hidden fees or overdraft charges. Customer funds are directly held at a bank, Member FDIC, and customers access the funds through a debit payment card that has thousands of available designs, including Sesame Street, Shrek (DreamWorks Animation), Family Guy (Fox), and many more.

About CARD.com
CARD.com creates and manages products that provide customers with easier banking through a mobile app and website. Customers are able to select their favorite card design from a portfolio of thousands of available designs. For more information, please visit www.card.com.

About Columbia Pacific Advisors
Columbia Pacific Advisors, LLC manages more than $1.1 billion* across a variety of alternative investment strategies including private real estate, private equity, distressed debt, and special situation lending. The firm utilizes deep fundamental research designed to generate compelling, consistent risk-adjusted returns. Columbia Pacific Advisors, LLC is headquartered in Seattle, WA. For more information, please visit www.columbiapacific.com.
*Regulatory assets under management as of 9/30/15.

About Fenway Summer Ventures
Fenway Summer Ventures is a venture capital firm combining regulatory, capital markets, and credit expertise with deep finance industry knowledge to support entrepreneurs solving important problems at the intersection of finance and technology. For more information, please visit www.fsv.vc.
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