Atlanta-based Greenwood, a financial platform with banking services and a community for Black and Latino individuals and business owners, is growing with its fourth acquisition since the start of 2022.
This week Greenwood acquired Kinly, an Atlanta-based neobank for direct deposit funds and cash back rewards. Kinly joins The Gathering Spot, A3C, and Valence as part of Greenwood ecosystem.
Greenwood has raised $88 million to date with local investors TTV Capital and Truist Ventures backing the platform.
Both Greenwood and Kinly view FinTech innovation as a way for Black and brown people to build generational wealth.
As a neobank, Kinly looks to streamline the online banking experience and level the financial playing field for Black and brown people. To date, Kinly has raised $20 million in outside funding, including a $15 million Series A led by San Francisco-based Forerunner Ventures.
“Kinly’s mission of financial empowerment and wealth-building stems from lessons learned from Black America’s history,” said Donald Hawkins, CEO of Kinly, in a press release. “The needs of our communities are many and I couldn’t be more excited to combine efforts with Greenwood to create lasting generational change.”
With the acquisition, Hawkins will join as a Vice President at Greenwood.
With the acquisition, Greenwood’s community will grow to over 1.3 million people.
Greenwood’s Growth During Banking Uncertainty
It’s certainly been a rough few months for the banking sector following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this spring. This adds another layer of mistrust for those already skeptical of the US banking system.
“Black and brown borrowers and depositors have faced decades-worth of challenges when it comes to accessing banking services, resulting in a growing distrust of traditional banking institutions and providers. When we combine this reality with the current market volatility we’re seeing and consistent headlines around global banking failures, it’s no surprise that this distrust has only continued to grow,” CEO and co-founder Ryan Glover told Hypepotamus. “With Greenwood, we see a unique opportunity to restore some of this trust by building more transparent products and services for Black and brown individuals while also strengthening our community of over one million individuals.”
New products and services include an online directory of more than 10,000 Black-owned businesses and service providers and the launch of the Money Moves TV series on AspireTV geared towards entrepreneurs.
“As the financial technology landscape continues to evolve, we remain committed to building and supporting our community in parallel,” added Glover.
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Featured Photo of Donald Hawkins (Kinly) from LinkedIn
