“This is still majority minority-owned,” Glover said of Greenwood. “Almost 98 percent of our customers are minorities, 98 percent of my workforce, who are making the decisions day in and day out, are minorities. At the end of the day, this is a business that is for us and by us.”
As Greenwood launched, it missed key deadlines — including with checking accounts, which weren’t offered until early 2022, nearly a year after its initial projections. There is still not a timeline for rolling out credit cards and small business loans.
The delays with those financial products, Glover said, were due to higher than expected customer demand. According to Glover, Greenwood currently has 150,000 active accounts, but is still seeing steady interest from potential new customers.
Meanwhile, Greenwood opened a studio to record personal finance content — from how to build credit to how launch a company — that it distributes online. In May 2022, it purchased the Gathering Spot, a private club with locations in Atlanta and Los Angeles, for $50 million. A month later it acquired Valance, a professional development and job recruitment company.
The additions expand the company’s ecosystem for its customers, while the company continues to focus on putting “best-in-class” banking products in the reach of Black and Latino customers, Glover said. Late last year, Greenwood launched the “Elevate Card,” or what Glover calls, “the real Black card.” With the debit card, which has a $200 a month fee, customers gain access to the entire suite of Greenwood’s products. This month, they announced the launch of Greenwood Invest, a stock trading and investing app.
But as they’ve grown, the company has come under the scrutiny of regulators. In December 2022, Greenwood signed a cease and desist agreement with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation pledging to stop referring to itself as a “bank” and more clearly disclose that they are a financial technology company working with banking partners.
Glover said that the agreement has had little impact and the company is now making appropriate disclosures.
The same month, Greenwood closed a second round of funding, which raised an additional $45 million.
The company’s problems began to spill out into public view when the former owners of the Gathering Spot sued Greenwood for an alleged unpaid debt and claimed that the fintech was in “financial disarray.” The lawsuit was settled in August.
In a statement, Glover denied that Greenwood was facing financial difficulties, saying that the company had enough cash to operate for two years “even if there was no revenue growth.”
But its turmoil has disturbed some customers.
Dominec Holmes, a marketing consultant from Michigan, said he signed up for the Greenwood waiting list in 2020 after learning that Killer Mike was one of the company’s founders. After months on the waitlist, Holmes opened a checking account.
But he closed the account three months later, he said, after learning Greenwood wasn’t a traditional Black bank and had partnered with Coastal Community Bank. Now, Holmes says he’s researching traditional Black-owned banks where he can move his money.
“I want to put my money in a bank that I know is investing in the Black community and Black businesses,” he said.
The Gathering Spot’s former owners said in an Instagram post last week that they had regained control of the clubs. In a statement, Greenwood said the companies will continue to work together and “remain supportive of each other’s growth as they transition back to operating as separate entities.”
Glover acknowledges the company’s leaders are still trying to determine the path forward for Greenwood and had recently laid off workers, the number of which he didn’t quantify. The layoffs were not due to financial necessity but instead an effort to keep the company nimble, he said.
But the company is strong, he said, adding that its banking revenue doubled in 2023. “This is not my first rodeo from a start-up perspective,” he said. “As we continue to grow our customer base and we continue to grow our product base and content base, we will have to move and shift staff and resources.”
Meanwhile, the banking industry is closely watching Greenwood’s progress.
Ashley Bell, co-founder of the National Black Bank Foundation, said that he is attempting to buy a small Utah-based bank that he can turn into a Black-owned institution. He has approached many of the big banks that funded Greenwood, but hasn’t received much interest, he said.
“We are cheering for Greenwood to become what it promised to be,” said Bell. “Because as someone who is raising capital to create new Black banks in this country, when you go to the big banks on Wall Street right now that well is dry because Greenwood hit the market at the right time with the right message.”
As Greenwood launched, it missed key deadlines — including with checking accounts, which weren’t offered until early 2022, nearly a year after its initial projections. There is still not a timeline for rolling out credit cards and small business loans.
The delays with those financial products, Glover said, were due to higher than expected customer demand. According to Glover, Greenwood currently has 150,000 active accounts, but is still seeing steady interest from potential new customers.
Meanwhile, Greenwood opened a studio to record personal finance content — from how to build credit to how launch a company — that it distributes online. In May 2022, it purchased the Gathering Spot, a private club with locations in Atlanta and Los Angeles, for $50 million. A month later it acquired Valance, a professional development and job recruitment company.
The additions expand the company’s ecosystem for its customers, while the company continues to focus on putting “best-in-class” banking products in the reach of Black and Latino customers, Glover said. Late last year, Greenwood launched the “Elevate Card,” or what Glover calls, “the real Black card.” With the debit card, which has a $200 a month fee, customers gain access to the entire suite of Greenwood’s products. This month, they announced the launch of Greenwood Invest, a stock trading and investing app.
But as they’ve grown, the company has come under the scrutiny of regulators. In December 2022, Greenwood signed a cease and desist agreement with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation pledging to stop referring to itself as a “bank” and more clearly disclose that they are a financial technology company working with banking partners.
Glover said that the agreement has had little impact and the company is now making appropriate disclosures.
The same month, Greenwood closed a second round of funding, which raised an additional $45 million.
The company’s problems began to spill out into public view when the former owners of the Gathering Spot sued Greenwood for an alleged unpaid debt and claimed that the fintech was in “financial disarray.” The lawsuit was settled in August.
In a statement, Glover denied that Greenwood was facing financial difficulties, saying that the company had enough cash to operate for two years “even if there was no revenue growth.”
But its turmoil has disturbed some customers.
Dominec Holmes, a marketing consultant from Michigan, said he signed up for the Greenwood waiting list in 2020 after learning that Killer Mike was one of the company’s founders. After months on the waitlist, Holmes opened a checking account.
But he closed the account three months later, he said, after learning Greenwood wasn’t a traditional Black bank and had partnered with Coastal Community Bank. Now, Holmes says he’s researching traditional Black-owned banks where he can move his money.
“I want to put my money in a bank that I know is investing in the Black community and Black businesses,” he said.
The Gathering Spot’s former owners said in an Instagram post last week that they had regained control of the clubs. In a statement, Greenwood said the companies will continue to work together and “remain supportive of each other’s growth as they transition back to operating as separate entities.”
Glover acknowledges the company’s leaders are still trying to determine the path forward for Greenwood and had recently laid off workers, the number of which he didn’t quantify. The layoffs were not due to financial necessity but instead an effort to keep the company nimble, he said.
But the company is strong, he said, adding that its banking revenue doubled in 2023. “This is not my first rodeo from a start-up perspective,” he said. “As we continue to grow our customer base and we continue to grow our product base and content base, we will have to move and shift staff and resources.”
Meanwhile, the banking industry is closely watching Greenwood’s progress.
Ashley Bell, co-founder of the National Black Bank Foundation, said that he is attempting to buy a small Utah-based bank that he can turn into a Black-owned institution. He has approached many of the big banks that funded Greenwood, but hasn’t received much interest, he said.
“We are cheering for Greenwood to become what it promised to be,” said Bell. “Because as someone who is raising capital to create new Black banks in this country, when you go to the big banks on Wall Street right now that well is dry because Greenwood hit the market at the right time with the right message.”
Or do we need JT the Pocket Watcher to come through and crush the buildings again?