Synapse provides US-based checking accounts to clients abroad and has about 13 million users. Clients open the accounts through Synapse partners in their home countries. In April 2022, Synapse announced such a partnership with Brazilian fintech Nomad and already provides US accounts to clients of Banco Inter.
Most Brazilians use these accounts to pay for expenses during trips or to invest in US financial markets. As stated by the officials, the company is in talks for new partnerships to offer the accounts to customers in Asia, mainly in India, and in other Latin American countries such as Mexico and Argentina.
Synapse owns a US brokerage and other banking products are provided by the company's partners. The accounts are covered by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) deposit insurance.
Synapse had its last funding round in 2019, when it raised USD 33 million with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and it expects to reach break-even in 2022, according to the officials. The company does not plan to raise more capital in the short term.
A checking account is a type of bank account that allows users to deposit and withdraw money for daily transactions. This may include depositing a check, taking out cash with a debit card or setting up direct deposit for paychecks.
The primary purpose of a checking account is to hold customer’s money in a secure place for the short term, so it’s available when they need it to pay their bills and other expenses. They can have their paycheck sent to their checking account (known as direct deposit) and then move a portion of their earnings to a savings or investment account where it can grow over time.
Nearly eight in 10 (79%) US adults have a bank account, such as a checking account, according to the Fed’s report on the economic well-being of US households in 2019 to May 2020. Of all the kinds of bank accounts, checking accounts through a bank or credit union offer the quickest and easiest access to the money.
Synapse is a global Banking-as-a-Service platform that increases access to financial products. In May 2022, it launched Global Cash, a secure cash management account product that enables residents in more than 35 countries to invest and hold US dollars.
Global Cash allows US-based fintechs to expand their market reach by simplifying the onboarding of international customers through compliance mechanisms. Fintechs abroad can implement a financial solution that grants customers virtually anywhere access to US-based account features.
Synapse Global Cash also allows international startups and enterprise-scale financial institutions to embed banking products into applications and launch those products in weeks, rather than months or years. Fundamental to enabling this speed-to-market is a suite of capabilities built into the Synapse platform, including core banking relationships, payment networks, licensing, and identity and risk management including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
With white-labeled Application Programming Interface (APIs) for developers and bank-facing APIs for institutions to automate their back-end operations, Synapse customers can build, launch, and scale financial products and services.
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