Cross River Bank, a regional lender that works with some of the biggest U.S. financial-technology startups, is in talks to raise fresh funding at a valuation of $2.5 billion or more.
Earlier this year, Cross River -- led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Gilles Gade -- agreed to acquire data and risk analytics firm Synthetic P2P Holdings Corp., better known as PeerIQ. It has originated more than $46 billion in loans since its 2008 inception, and worked with over 375,000 businesses to secure Paycheck Protection Program loans, its website shows. Cross River is a New Jersey state-chartered FDIC-insured bank. In 2018, it raised about $100 million in a funding round led by KKR & Co. that included participation from investors including CreditEase, Lion Tree Partners, Ribbit Capital, Battery Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. In 2020, the company said its parent had issued $106 million of subordinated notes that it earmarked as “opportunistic capital” to fuel strategic growth plans.