What is Cross River Bank?
Regulated bank and embedded-finance infrastructure provider for lending, payments, cards, crypto, and fintech platforms.
- Category
- Embedded finance
- Headquarters
- Fort Lee, NJ
- Founded
- 2008
- Employees
- 1,000+ reported
- Total funding
- $775M+ disclosed equity
- Valuation
- $3B+ in 2022 round
What is Cross River Bank?
Cross River Bank is a New Jersey-chartered bank and technology infrastructure provider that powers embedded lending, payments, cards, crypto, and banking services for fintech companies and enterprises. It combines a regulated bank charter with APIs, compliance, risk, and payments infrastructure.
Cross River was founded in 2008 by Gilles Gade and became one of the most important partner banks behind fintech lending and embedded finance. a16z's investment thesis described Cross River as the regulated infrastructure layer that lets companies become fintech companies without obtaining their own bank charter. Public a16z materials said Cross River had originated nearly $85 billion in loans and processed more than 438,000 daily payment transactions by the time of the 2022 round.
The company works with fintechs and platforms across lending, payments, cards, and crypto. Its business model blends bank economics, fee income, payments, compliance services, capital markets, and multi-year platform relationships. Because it is a regulated bank, sellers should treat Cross River as both a fintech infrastructure company and a supervised financial institution with bank-grade risk, compliance, security, vendor, and regulatory requirements.
What does Cross River Bank offer?
Cross River offers regulated embedded-finance infrastructure, including lending, payments, cards, bank accounts, crypto support, capital markets, and compliance capabilities.
- Embedded lending· Lending
- Payments infrastructure· Payments
- Cards· Card issuing
- Banking-as-a-service· Platform
- Crypto and stablecoin capabilities· Digital assets
- Capital markets· Finance
- Risk and compliance· Bank operations
- AI and embedded finance 2.0· Platform roadmap
How does Cross River Bank make money?
Cross River makes money through bank net interest income, origination economics, payments and card fees, platform fees, capital-markets activity, and long-term embedded-finance partner relationships.
Cross River does not publish simple SaaS pricing because its products are regulated banking and embedded-finance programs. Pricing and economics depend on product line, transaction volume, loans originated, deposits, interchange, payment flows, capital markets, partner risk profile, compliance scope, and bank balance-sheet participation. a16z described the model as recurring and sticky with multi-year arrangements across lending, payments, cards, and crypto.
Third-party analysis has estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, but those figures should be treated as estimates unless drawn from regulatory filings or audited statements. The drivers are partner volume, credit quality, deposit and funding costs, net interest income, fee income, capital markets demand, and the ability to win/retain high-growth fintech platforms while satisfying regulators.
Who leads Cross River Bank?
Cross River is led by founder, chairman, and CEO Gilles Gade, with a leadership bench across banking, technology, risk, compliance, payments, lending, and capital markets.
- Gilles GadeFounder, Chairman & CEOFounder, since 2008Built Cross River as a regulated fintech infrastructure bank and remains the central strategic leader.
- Phil GoldfederSVP, Global Public AffairsExecutive leadershipPublic policy and regulatory affairs leader for Cross River's bank and fintech posture.
- Adam GollerBoard observer / a16z investor roleInvestor relationshipRepresents a16z's fintech investment context around Cross River.
- Cross River executive teamBanking, compliance and technology leadersOngoingBank-grade buying decisions involve risk, compliance, finance, legal, technology, and operations leaders.
How do you contact Cross River Bank's leadership?
Cross River publishes contact, sales, and newsroom routes rather than personal executive emails. Use official sales/contact and media routes, and expect regulated-vendor onboarding for substantive engagements.
contact form and public newsroom routes; personal format not verifiedHow much funding has Cross River Bank raised?
Cross River has disclosed at least $775 million-plus in equity financing, including a $620 million 2022 round co-led by Eldridge and Andreessen Horowitz and a $50 million 2026 common-equity raise from T. Rowe Price-advised accounts.
Cross River's public venture history includes a 2016 institutional round of about $28-30 million with Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, and Ribbit Capital, followed by a $100 million 2018 round led by KKR with participation from a16z, Battery, and Ribbit. In March 2022, CRB Group announced a $620 million financing led by Eldridge and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from T. Rowe Price-advised funds, Whale Rock, Hanaco, and others; TechCrunch reported the round valued the company north of $3 billion.
In March 2026, Cross River announced a $50 million common-equity capital raise from certain existing investors and T. Rowe Price-advised accounts to fuel expansion across AI, crypto, and embedded finance. Some databases report higher totals when including debt or additional rounds, but the clearest disclosed equity path is $775 million-plus before counting smaller or less-public rounds.
How did Cross River Bank get here?
Cross River grew from a New Jersey community bank into a regulated infrastructure layer for major fintech platforms.
- 2008FoundedGilles Gade founds Cross River Bank in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
- 2016First institutional rounda16z, Battery, and Ribbit back Cross River's fintech infrastructure strategy.
- 2018$100M KKR-led roundCapital supports growth in fintech lending and payments infrastructure.
- Mar 2022$620M round at $3B+ valuationEldridge and a16z co-lead a major financing for next-stage embedded finance growth.
- 2025Embedded finance 2.0 momentumCross River highlights momentum across payments, capital markets, lending, AI, and crypto.
- Mar 2026$50M common-equity raiseT. Rowe Price-advised accounts deepen investment to fuel AI, crypto, and embedded-finance expansion.
Who are Cross River Bank's competitors?
Cross River competes with partner banks, embedded-finance infrastructure providers, issuer processors, payment platforms, and fintech banking platforms.
- The BancorpRegulated partner bank and banking-as-a-service provider for fintech programs.
- WebBankIndustrial bank partner behind consumer and small-business lending programs.
- MarqetaModern card issuing and payment processing platform without Cross River's bank-charter model.
- GalileoAPI-based banking, cards, and payments platform owned by SoFi.
- StripePayments and financial-infrastructure platform with embedded finance and issuing products.
Cross River Bank — frequently asked questions
