Greenwood acquires Black neobank with similar mission

Two Black-oriented neobanks are uniting.

On Tuesday, Greenwood announced that it was acquiring Kinly, previously known as First Boulevard. Both are digital banks that focus on building wealth in the Black community.

"Kinly has always shared in our commitment to building a more transparent banking experience for Black Americans," said Ryan Glover, CEO and co-founder of Greenwood, in a press release. "In partnership with Donald Hawkins, [CEO of] Kinly, we plan to grow our footprint and expand our services to provide best-in-class experiences for Black and brown families and businesses."

Hawkins, also the founder of Kinly — which rebranded from First Boulevard in early 2022 — will join the Greenwood executive management team as a vice president. Kinly's 300,000 users will become part of Greenwood and join Greenwood's current banking customer base of 150,000. 

Kinly launched in 2020 and racked up $20 million in funding from investors including Forerunner Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Anthemis, and Kapor Capital. Greenwood has raised $80 million in funding. The two companies declined to name the purchase price.

This is the third acquisition Greenwood has made over the past year. In 2022, it bought The Gathering Spot, a community for Black professionals with private clubs, and Valence, a website that helps Black professionals advance their careers. Their offerings were packaged together in a tier called Elevate that costs $200 per month. The total number of people in Greenwood's "ecosystem," including its bank customers, Kinly's customers, users of The Gathering Spot and Valence, and attendees of A3C, an annual music, technology and culture festival in Atlanta where Greenwood is a presenting partner, is one million.

"It is another proud moment to again have two Black-owned companies on both sides of an M&A transaction," said Paul Judge, board member at Greenwood, in the release.