Greenwood, a challenger bank for Black and Latino individuals, is rolling out benefits that go beyond banking.
It's something of a turnabout for this neobank, which was founded in 2020 to be
On Nov. 29, the Atlanta-based company announced the launch of Elevate, a new membership tier for its customers that costs $200 per month and folds in perks such as membership to a network of private clubs for the Black community and access to a career and networking site for Black professionals.
"Our thought was not just to offer financial products, but to connect our community in ways other challenger banks weren't," said Ryan Glover, chairman and co-founder of Greenwood along with Paul Judge, Andrew J. Young and the rapper Michael "Killer Mike" Render. "That creates stickiness."
Helping users build community with like-minded people is
Greenwood's Elevate will include access to a trio of private clubhouses in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington.
"It's more of an old-school version of building community than digital neobanks that bring together people of a certain
The new subscription tier is a product of two acquisitions that Greenwood made earlier this year: The Gathering Spot, a community for Black professionals with the private clubs, and Valence, a website that helps Black professionals advance their careers. Elevate membership will also include access to certain events, such as the annual A3C music, technology and culture conference in Atlanta, as well as all the benefits and perks already present in the no-fee standard tier and the $10-per-month premium option.
A monthly fee of $200 may sound steep. But, Glover said, "we believe we are creating a wealth of value bundling all of our Greenwood products and services within Elevate." He points out that membership to the Gathering Spot alone costs $200 a month. While joining Valence to search for jobs and connect with other members is free, Elevate members get access to a professional development curriculum that normally costs $1,500 per year and a "premiere" Valence profile — exclusive to Elevate cardholders — that sends them to the top of employer and member search results.
"Our target audience is not necessarily unbanked or underserved per se," Glover said. "That middle- to upper-class minority community is not technically unbanked, but it's not fully catered to in a way that we believe we should be."
The challenger bank will apply some of the $40 million it raised from Truist, BofA and others to a microloan program aimed at Black and Hispanic groups. It also plans to offer a debit card through community development financial institutions and minority depository banks.
The standard Greenwood banking service includes spending and saving accounts, early access to paychecks, peer-to-peer transfers and more. It does not charge fees for usage, minimum balances, overdrafts or peer-to-peer payments. The premium tier piles on additional benefits, such as travel and golf perks and price protection through the Mastercard debit card.
"I saw them as trying to provide avenues for building wealth within the Black community. Attracting wealthy members of the Black community to your bank by offering discounted access to the kinds of perks or social things they might want to participate in seems consistent with that mission," said Crane, who read about the company and its founding story when it started.
Currently, Greenwood has more than 100,000 customers and just under 100,000 more on the waitlist. The $3.1 billion-asset Coastal Community Bank in Everett, Washington, provides the underlying banking services.
Greenwood also announced a $45 million investment on Nov. 29 led by Pendulum, a Black-founded investment firm that targets founders of color. Several banks, all existing investors, also pitched in, including Bank of America, Citi Ventures, PNC, Banco Popular, Truist Ventures and Wells Fargo. Truist Ventures
Glover says he gets tongue-in-cheek questions about the presence of top traditional banks in his Series A, such as, "'Aren't they the reason there is such an enormous wealth gap in America?'"
"Absolutely that is the case," he continued. "My job is not to look backward into understanding who caused the problem, but to look forward and figure out a solution."
