Mercury Raises 200 M a t 200Mat5.2B Valuation as AI Boom Drives Counter-Cyclical Growth in Fintech

Mercury, a Fintech company providing banking services to startups, has rAIsed $200millioninaSeriesDfundinground,reachingavaluationof$5.2 billion. This represents a 49% increase from its previous round just 14 months ago, marking a strong counter-cyCLIcal rise amid a broader downturn in the fintech industry. The round was led by renowned venture capital firm TCV, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coatue.

CEO Immad Akhund revealed that Mercury has been profitable for four conSECutive years, now serves over 300,000 customers (accounting for one-third of early-stage startups), and generated $650 million in Annualized Revenue in the third quarter. The wave of Generative AI has become a significant growth engine — by lowering the bARRiers to entrepreneurship, AI has spurred the creation of many new companies, and Mercury, as a go-to platform for early business account opening, has directly benefited from this trend.

Additionally, Mercury recently received conditional APProval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), paving the way for it to become a federally regulated bank by 2027. Once approved, Mercury will be able to retain more of its revenue, expand lending Operations, join the Zelle instant payment network, and reduce its reliance on partner banks. Akhund noted that Mercury has grown far larger than its host bank, making direct regulatory oveRSIght a logical choice. He also emphASIzed that unlike peer Brex, Mercury will not sell itself to a bank. Instead, the company plans to eventually go public, "building a strong independent brand."