Small Business Neobanks: 8 Ways They’re Beating Banks at Their Own Game

At first glance, business neobanks are easy to dismiss. They serve a relatively small share of the market and tend to skew toward newer, smaller, and digitally native businesses. But that framing misses where they’re having the most impact: in repositioning the digital banking experience around operational efficiency, and creating innovative solutions for how day-to-day financial work gets done. 

This report examines how leading neobanks are helping their business clients accomplish key financial tasks such as managing cash flow, tracking expenses, getting paid, setting aside funds, operating internationally, and staying on top of bookkeeping and taxes—all in ways that are still rare or nonexistent among the top U.S. banks. Javelin highlights eight innovative features that are poised to become table stakes in business banking in the next few years, with the goal of guiding bankers, digital strategists, and platform providers to build digital experiences that are more proactive and aligned with the financial and operational success of the business.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• How many U.S. small businesses have an account with a neobank?
• What are the top neobanks serving the U.S. market, and what segments do they target?
• What innovative features are neobanks offering to improve the day-to-day operations of business clients?
• What lessons should FIs, platform providers, and fintechs take away from neobank offerings? 

Companies Mentioned: 

Arc, Block, Bluevine, Chase Bank, Chime, Citizens Bank, Found, Lili, Mercury, NorthOne, Novo, PayPal, Relay, Revolut, Rho, Shopify, Slash, SoFi, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, Varo, Wise