picks & shovels
Infra for neobanks
106
providers mapped
24
sponsor banks
114
neobanks mapped to rails
Most "neobanks" don't run their own rails: a sponsor bank holds the license, a processor issues the cards, and increasingly a stablecoin platform moves the money. This page maps that hidden layer for the tracked directory — because when a provider stumbles (Wirecard, Synapse, an issuer changing footprint overnight), it's the apps on top that die. Mappings come from the neobanks' own issuer disclosures and public reporting; some are partial — suggest an addition.
BIN sponsor banks
The small Queens thrift under a startling share of global fintech's US rails — Wise's USD accounts, Crypto.com's prepaid card, Greenlight, Zolve and Comun all sit on it. A 2025 OCC order to rebuild its AML program showed how much weight the charter carries.
One of the busiest BaaS sponsor banks of the boom era; its 2024 Synapse fallout and enforcement action made it the cautionary tale of the model. Still sits under Dave and Step.
Ohio community bank that issues the Cash App Card — a ~$1B-asset bank under one of America's biggest consumer money apps.
The developer-first nationally chartered bank built by Plaid co-founder William Hockey — no middleware, direct Fed access. Banks Mercury and Flex among fintech's most technical teams.
Jackie Reses' (ex-Square Capital) Kansas City charter, rebuilt as a fintech sponsor bank — issues Flex's Visa Infinite business credit card.
North Dakota sponsor bank behind some of the biggest US fintech brands — a long-time partner bank for both Current and Mercury deposits.
Washington-state charter that powers One (Walmart's fintech) among a large CCBX partner portfolio — one of the few sponsor banks that grew through the 2023-24 BaaS crackdown.
New Jersey's fintech-lending powerhouse — issues Current's credit builder card and, since 2026, the US MetaMask Card, putting a state-chartered bank under the world's default self-custody wallet.
Chennai small-finance bank that hosted two tracked neobanks — Freo Save's digital savings account and Niyo's NiyoX (the Niyo tie-up ended May 2025, a reminder that Indian partner-bank deals are rented, not owned).
A 1902 Iowa community bank that quietly processes Cash App's direct deposits — and was MoneyLion's original deposit bank before Pathward. Proof the first US fintech wave ran on Main Street charters.
The New York bank that issued Crypto.com's first US Visa card (2018) and sat under Revolut US until 2024 — then exited crypto entirely in 2023 as regulators turned, handing its fintech book to successors like Lead Bank.
CDFI-certified Minnesota charter that specializes in mission-driven fintech — issues MoCaFi's cards (including city disbursement programs like LA's Angeleno Card) and the True Link prepaid Visa for vulnerable adults.
The original fintech sponsor bank — quietly issues cards and holds deposits for a huge share of US consumer fintech, Chime included (alongside Stride).
Tennessee charter behind embedded deposit programs with $3M pass-through FDIC sweep networks — sits under Relay and part of Flex's banking stack.
The Kerala bank that became Indian neobanking's default charter — Jupiter and Fi Money both built on its savings accounts. Fi's 2026 wind-down, with customers pushed to the bank's own FedMobile app, showed who really owns the relationship.
The former MetaBank, one of America's largest prepaid and BaaS charters — bank of record for MoneyLion's RoarMoney account, with the partnership extended to 2029.
A de novo New York charter (2019) built from scratch for embedded banking — issues Slash's business debit Mastercard alongside a curated fintech portfolio it keeps deliberately small.
The 1976 Emirati bank that put the UAE's first independent neobank on the map — provided IBAN and BIN sponsorship for YAP's 2021 launch (YAP has since moved to Ruya Islamic Bank).
One of India's most fintech-forward private banks — a core partner bank behind RazorpayX's business current accounts and corporate cards.
The Indian subsidiary of Mauritius' state bank, reborn as a fintech partner bank — powers Niyo Global's zero-forex savings account and debit card for travelling Indians.
Oklahoma national bank that co-sponsors Chime's card programs with Bancorp — proof that a community bank charter can sit under tens of millions of fintech accounts.
Utah industrial bank that issues the Klarna Card in the US — the charter of choice for point-of-sale credit programs.
The prepaid pioneer turned publicly listed BaaS bank (NYSE: GDOT) — its Arc platform runs Apple Cash and Walmart's money products, making it one of the biggest sponsor banks with no tracked neobank on it: its clients are mostly big tech and retail, not challengers.
Nigeria's go-to fintech partner bank — its virtual-NUBAN and BIN-sponsorship APIs sit under Piggyvest, Paystack and much of the Lagos fintech scene, though the tracked Nigerian neobanks (Kuda, OPay, PalmPay) hold their own licenses.
BaaS & e-money platforms
LatAm's largest card-issuing and BaaS unicorn (ex-Conductor), processing for 70M+ active accounts — Mercado Pago, PagBank, C6 Bank and Neon have all run on its rails.
Embedded-finance and banking-as-a-service platform: virtual IBANs, multi-currency accounts and stablecoin ramps consumed via a single API.
Europe's flagship banking-as-a-service platform with a full German banking license; Tomorrow runs on it, and Vivid launched on it before getting its own EMI — BaFin pressure has since forced a hard pivot.
Société Générale-owned French BaaS platform — the original rails under Shine and much of the French fintech wave.
Formerly PrePay Technologies/PPS, one of the UK's oldest e-money institutions (licensed 2003) — issued Monese's cards and accounts across 31 countries, the classic agent-of-EMI model that predates the BaaS label.
Finland's card-as-a-service heavyweight, founded by two ex-bankers in a sauna — took Sweden's Rocker from zero to 100,000+ cards in two years, handling licensing, processing and compliance in one stack.
UK e-money institution with direct Faster Payments and Bacs access — provides the payment accounts and scheme connectivity behind Pockit, and embedded payments for hundreds of UK platforms.
The former SFPMEI, France's original BaaS e-money institution (now Crédit Agricole-owned) — carried Lydia from 2013 until it won its own EMI license in 2023 and dropped 'OKALI' from customers' bank statements.
France's developer-darling embedded-banking EMI: French SaaS apps bolt a full 'compte pro' into their product — Indy's freelancer account runs on it, alongside Pennylane and much of French fintech's second wave.
The only MENA BaaS provider fully regulated by the UAE central bank, and a Visa/Mastercard principal member — BIN sponsorship plus issuing across UAE, Saudi, Egypt and Pakistan, where it launched the country's first digital credit card with easypaisa.
BaaS & clearing banks
The UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years — holds Tide's customer funds and provides agency banking rails to dozens of UK fintechs.
The 'bank you can build on': a full UK banking license (2024) wrapped in an API, founded by ex-Airbnb and CircleCI engineers — the first British BaaS provider that is actually a bank rather than an EMI. No tracked neobank runs on it yet.
BaaS middleware
The API layer under India's card-fintech wave — Niyo, Jupiter and slice all built card programs on its bank-BIN orchestration. Now 30+ markets across MENA, ASEAN and Africa, backed by Visa and Helios.
The a16z-backed BaaS middleware whose 2024 bankruptcy froze ~$200M of end-user funds across partner banks — Juno was among the apps caught in the collapse. The reason 'who holds the ledger?' is now a due-diligence question.
The YC-backed Zambian card-issuing API that served ~100 African fintechs — until a $1.2B attempted-fraud wave and Mastercard chargeback breaches forced a 2022 shutdown, cutting off virtual dollar cards at Eversend and dozens of peers overnight. Africa's Synapse-grade cautionary tale.
core banking platforms
Google-engineer-founded Vault core, the ledger under Atom Bank since 2016 — Curve and Monese both moved onto it as they scaled.
The 30-year incumbent that 3,000+ banks run on — and quietly the core under a surprising share of neobanks: Varo's US charter, Italy's Flowe (live in 5 months), Alpian, Judo Bank, EQ Bank and Ualá's Mexican bank all sit on it.
Cloud-native core banking and payments platform acquired by Visa for $1B in 2024 — NG.cash migrated its 1M+ Gen-Z accounts onto it to cut costs and ship faster.
The SaaS core-banking pioneer: N26 famously launched on it before building in-house, and TymeBank runs Africa's biggest digital bank on it today.
Ex-Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins' cloud-native 'SuperCore', backed by BlackRock and J.P. Morgan — the ledger JPMorgan chose to power Chase UK's assault on the British market.
Starling Bank's core, packaged as SaaS for other banks — powered Salt Bank's build-and-launch in under 12 months, with 100,000 Romanian customers onboarded in the first two weeks.
Infosys' universal banking suite serving banks in 100 countries — the incumbent core that emerging-market digital brands are often carved out of, including Emirates NBD's Liv., the UAE's first lifestyle neobank.
The Misys+D+H legacy giant whose cloud-first Essence core got a second life with digital banks — Tonik launched Southeast Asia's first pure-play licensed neobank on it in 2021.
Frank Sanchez's cloud-native 'core-as-a-service', acquired by Fiserv in 2022 — the elastic system of record One (Walmart's fintech) picked to run save-spend-borrow in a single account.
Cloud core built for emerging markets and microfinance-scale economics — FairMoney runs Nigeria's biggest credit-led neobank (12M+ accounts) on its Instafin platform.
The LatAm-born Cyberbank core SoFi bought for $1.1B in 2022 to own its own ledger — SoFi's checking, savings and credit card are migrating onto it, folded into Galileo as 'Cyberbank Core'.
Event-driven core-banking engine born inside a UK charity-banking project — sells real-time data as the product, one of the few cores designed around inclusion use cases first.
Estonian API-first core built by ex-bank-IT veterans — migrated millions of LHV UK accounts with zero downtime, making it the credible European challenger to Mambu and Thought Machine.
card issuing processors
The processor under the first US neobank wave — Chime (before its in-house ChimeCore migration), Dave and MoneyLion all built on it. Acquired by SoFi in 2020 for $1.2B.
The public (NASDAQ: MQ) modern card-issuing platform that grew up processing Cash App's card volume; also powers Klarna's card programs and newer entrants like BFinance.
The processor formerly known as GPS (Global Processing Services) — the issuer-processing firepower under the UK fintech wave: Revolut, Starling and Curve all scaled on it, and it still processes billions of transactions a year across 40+ countries.
Silicon Valley's quiet veteran (founded 2001) with a single global SaaS platform spanning 200+ countries — the processor behind the Crypto.com Visa card's worldwide rollout and Zolve's US cards for new arrivals.
The 2021 Paymentology–Tutuka merger created the first truly global issuer-processor, strongest in emerging markets — it processes cards for Tyme's digital banks in both South Africa and the Philippines.
LatAm's modern card-issuing platform, built because Marqeta never localized — issues for the region's crypto neobanks including Lemon and Belo.
The Singapore cross-border payments platform (ex-InstaReM) whose card-issuing APIs put Visa corporate cards inside Aspire, Southeast Asia's first business neobank.
Stripe's card-issuing arm — the infrastructure under Ramp's 2M+ corporate cards since 2020, now pushing stablecoin-backed cards into markets its US clients couldn't previously reach.
The acquiring giant's issuing arm — Adyen's EU banking license and single-platform pitch let platforms add branded cards next to the payments they already process.
The publicly listed (NYSE: CCRD) credit-card processing specialist that quietly runs the Apple Card for Goldman Sachs — proof that complex revolving-credit programs still need deep specialist cores.
Ledger-and-issuing platform built by former Visa executives whose pitch is currency-agnostic 'anything as money' — powers HSBC's PayMe wallet in Hong Kong among bank-grade clients.
Built by the ex-Braintree/PayPal team as a from-scratch issuing platform with an embedded ledger — the newest US challenger to Marqeta and Lithic in embedded card programs.
Started as consumer virtual-card app Privacy.com, then flipped its own infrastructure into a developer-first issuing API — the leanest way for US fintechs to spin up a card program.
Estonian Visa principal member offering white-label card issuing with a free-tier API — the fast, low-ceremony route to a European card program for early-stage fintechs.
Bhavin Turakhia's $1.5B-valued banking-tech bet: the cloud-native Tachyon processing stack behind HDFC Bank's PayZapp and Pixel credit card, now pushing into US credit unions.
crypto card infrastructure
The card-program layer between self-custody wallets and Mastercard/Visa rails — powers the MetaMask Card and 1inch Card; merged with Monavate in 2026.
Paris-based stablecoin card issuer that connected self-custody wallets to Visa/Mastercard via smart-contract session keys — never touching user funds. Issued 120,000+ cards across ~20 B2B clients (Ready and Solflare are the two we track). Wound down Jul 2026 after solvency issues; wallet balances were unaffected because spend-at-POS pulled from users' own keys.
Visa-principal-member issuing platform for stablecoin-native cards — programs settle in USDC onchain. Issues Karta among a fast-growing roster of web3 card programs.
Hong Kong Visa Principal Issuer (also Mexico) whose white-label card-as-a-service sits under RedotPay and KAST — one of only three partners Visa names in its 160+ stablecoin card programs. Acquired by Kraken's parent Payward in 2026.
Mastercard-partnered protocol that lets wallets spend directly from self-custody — the issuing layer behind Bitget Wallet's card.
Swiss VQF-regulated Atomo SARL is a Mastercard principal member offering white-label card programs settled in fiat or stablecoins — issues Mine's card across 175+ countries.
Wirex's infrastructure arm — a decade of crypto-card issuing experience packaged as white-label rails, powering COCA's cards.
Estonian MiCA-licensed API stack for EU crypto neobanks — one integration covers custody, trading, virtual IBANs and Visa/Mastercard issuing from bitcoin or stablecoin balances, the plug-and-play way to launch a European crypto card.
crypto brokerage & custody
NYDFS-regulated brokerage and tokenization platform that let mainstream apps switch on crypto — powered Nubank Cripto, Mercado Pago's crypto launch and Revolut's US debut.
B2B crypto and stablecoin settlement layer with money-transmitter coverage across the US — the plumbing behind MoneyLion's and Juno's crypto features.
MPC custody and transfer network securing digital-asset operations for thousands of institutions — Revolut among the fintechs running treasury and wallet ops on it.
stablecoin infrastructure
Issuer of USDC, the regulated digital dollar that a whole wave of neobanks treat as their core ledger — Mine settles IBAN deposits straight into it, COCA plugs into Circle's payment platform, and USDC-native apps from Daimo to Kontigo build on its rails.
Stripe's $1.1B stablecoin-orchestration acquisition — issues branded stablecoins and moves money on stablecoin rails. Issues Deel's DLUSD and MetaMask's mUSD (with M0).
Issuer of USDT, the world's most-held stablecoin — and increasingly a strategic investor in the apps that distribute it: Oobit and Fizen are Tether-backed, and Plasma One runs on the Tether-linked Plasma chain.
Enterprise stablecoin payments stack ($30B+ annualized volume) behind embedded wallets and payouts for Deel and Bitso — Mastercard agreed to acquire it for up to $1.8B in 2026, the largest stablecoin-infra deal on record.
The payments-first L1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm — purpose-built rails for stablecoin settlement, used in Deel's and Karta's stacks.
Shared stablecoin issuance protocol that lets brands mint their own fully-reserved dollar — powers MetaMask's mUSD (issued with Bridge), the first wallet-native stablecoin.
Icelandic e-money institution issuing EURe — the regulated onchain euro with personal IBANs that Gnosis Pay accounts are built on.
Solana-native stablecoin infrastructure (the USD* 'numeraire' pool) founded by Solana Foundation's ex-stablecoin lead — the yield engine behind SurfCash's up-to-15% rates.
onramp infrastructure
Payments infrastructure for wallets and exchanges — fiat on/off-ramps plus card-issuing rails (its Spend product powers wallet-linked cards across Europe).
The consumer-fintech of crypto onramps — card and bank rails into 500+ apps across 190 countries, including the buy/sell flows inside MetaMask, Trust Wallet (multi-year exclusive since 2025) and Phantom.
Warsaw-built onramp/offramp where one KYC unlocks hundreds of wallets — powers buy and L2 cash-out flows in MetaMask and crypto purchases in Trust Wallet across 150+ countries.
Fiat-to-crypto ramp behind 450+ apps and MetaMask's long-time primary onramp — since September 2025 the exclusive provider of MetaMask's Deposit button, with 1:1 stablecoin purchases and named IBANs.
yield infrastructure
DeFi's largest lending protocol (~$50B TVL), increasingly consumed as embedded yield: MetaMask's Stablecoin Earn deposits straight into Aave and auto-routes swaps into aTokens, and Mine's Earn runs on Aave V3.
The DeFi lending network that neobanks embed as their savings backend — Deblock's 4% euro current account runs on a Steakhouse-curated Morpho vault, and Hyperbeat borrows via Morpho at the point of sale.
Non-custodial yield layer for neobanks: each user gets their own Gnosis Safe with sanctions screening and audit trail built in, and capital routes across risk-rated DeFi venues (Morpho, Aave) — one SDK instead of a protocol-by-protocol integration.
wallet infrastructure
Embedded-wallet layer (acquired by Stripe in 2025) that gives fintech users an onchain wallet behind a normal login — part of the stack under Deel's DLUSD and Karta.
The smart-account standard securing $100B+ onchain — Gnosis Pay wires its Visa card directly to each user's Safe, and EtherFi Cash holds collateral in per-user Safes. The de facto account layer of onchain banking.
Paris-based MPC wallet-as-a-service repositioned as a 'core banking platform for digital assets' — powers the self-custody wallet infrastructure behind Deblock, France's first MiCA-licensed institution.
MPC key infrastructure that turns social logins into non-custodial wallets — powers Trust Wallet's seedless onboarding and was acquired by Consensys (MetaMask's parent) in 2025.
Key-management infrastructure from the team that built Coinbase Custody — secure-enclave signing behind 50M+ embedded wallets, the default answer when a consumer money app needs seedless self-custody at scale.
payments chains
The high-throughput chain that markets itself as payments infrastructure (Solana Pay) — Sling Money's stablecoin P2P, Decaf's spending rails, KAST's stablecoin cards and Solflare all run their money features on it.
Mobile-first chain (now an Ethereum L2) purpose-built for cheap stablecoin payments — the rails under Opera's MiniPay and its 16M+ wallets across the Global South.
The low-cost EVM chain where Gnosis Pay settles — each cardholder's Safe account lives on Gnosis Chain, making it the first chain with a Visa card wired directly to it.
Consensys' Ethereum L2 and MetaMask's home network for money — every MetaMask Card transaction executes on Linea, and mUSD launched natively there.
Tether-linked L1 purpose-built for zero-fee USD₮ transfers — the chain that Plasma One, its own consumer neobank, runs on. Vertical integration of chain and money app in one stack.
The 2014-vintage payments-first blockchain with native USDC support — the settlement rails under COCA's self-banking accounts and a long roster of remittance corridors.
ledger & reconciliation
AI-powered financial-operations backbone — unified double-entry ledger, reconciliation engine and data hub sitting between a neobank's product and its banking partners, so balances and bank statements never drift apart.
data connectivity
The account-connectivity network that links bank accounts to apps — Chime, Current, Varo and Dave all rely on it for funding flows and account linking.
Client lists show tracked neobanks with a publicly documented relationship — not complete customer books. Providers switch constantly; corrections welcome.
using this at work?Teams at fintechs, VCs and banks use this data for market maps, diligence and monitoring. For sponsorships, data licensing or a monthly team briefing — work with us →