Cross River Launches Venture Capital Arm to Propel the Next Generation of Fintech Startups

FORT LEE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, today announced Cross River Digital Ventures, its recently established venture capital arm. Cross River Digital Ventures seeks to invest in companies that sit at the intersection of lending, payments, investing and fintech, and are of strategic value to both the Cross River ecosystem and the broader technology industry.

“Cross River already powers some of the largest companies in fintech and this new endeavor will help us identify and make additional strategic investments,” said Gilles Gade, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Cross River. “Similar to Cross River, we are looking for special companies that are trying to change the world through innovation.”

Cross River provides leading technology and deep banking expertise which has become the foundation on which dozens of partners build their ecosystems and fuel their brands. By serving as a synergistic partner for early-stage startups, Cross River is building partnerships with the next generation of technology pioneers. These investments will help start-ups scale more rapidly and develop new, innovative solutions that address the needs of the marketplace.

“By providing strategic support to early-stage companies we can build on the Cross River momentum to fuel and strengthen the next wave of fintech innovation,” said Hillel Olivestone, Head of Corporate Development at Cross River. “These are promising startups that align with Cross River’s mission and values, and we look forward to working with them to grow and expand the fintech ecosystem.”

To date, some of the companies Cross River Digital Ventures has invested in include:

• Innovative Assessments (IA), a fintech startup that uses psychometrics to personalize financial services and promote financial inclusion;
• Lev, a technology-focused commercial real estate financing advisory firm; and
• Finix Payments, a payments infrastructure provider enabling software that develops a payment processing platform for businesses.

“Working with Cross River has been awesome. They understand fintech like few other companies, and their reputation and access to resources is tremendous,” said Lev Founder Yaakov Zar. “We're proud to be working with the leading fintech bank to rebuild commercial real estate finance.”

For more information, please visit crossriver.com/digital-ventures.

About Cross River

Cross River is a fast-growing financial services organization that merges the forward-thinking offerings of a technology company with the established expertise and traditional services of a bank. Since its founding in 2008, Cross River has developed strategic partnerships with leading technology companies, marketplace lenders and payment providers, while maintaining a strong focus on regulatory compliance and consumer protection. Cross River provides a highly secure, API-based banking platform and comprehensive suite of products encompassing lending, payments, risk management and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings to deliver responsible financial solutions that empower businesses and consumers anytime, anywhere. Cross River Bank is a New Jersey state-chartered FDIC insured bank. For more information, please visit Cross River’s website at www.crossriver.com or Twitter @crossriverbank.