Jiko, a neobank that gives companies “low-cost access” to short-term US Treasury bills, raised a $40M Series B, bringing its total funding to $87.7M
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years ago Jiko became the first fintech startup to acquire a nationally regulated US bank, then raised a $40M Series A on the strength of that charter. The new $40M Series B shows the strategy compounding: rather than reselling another bank's rails, Jiko uses its own regulated balance sheet to give companies direct, low-cost access to short-term US Treasury bills.
First-order effects
- The $87.7M of total funding lets Jiko scale its corporate T-bill product on its own bank charter, so corporate treasurers get money-market-like yields without routing through a third-party sponsor bank.
Second-order effects
- Neobanks and cash-management rivals that still rent banking infrastructure face a cost and compliance gap against a competitor whose charter removes the interchange of a partner-bank middleman.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, more fintechs will follow Jiko's path from partnering with banks to acquiring them outright, shifting competitive advantage in business banking toward whoever owns regulated balance sheets.
The trend: Fintech is consolidating around owned bank charters, with corporate treasury products like short-term T-bill access as the wedge.