Summary
Augustus (formerly Ivy) raised $180M at a $1B valuation to build Global Dollar Bank — an API-first federally chartered US national bank targeting international fintechs and banks in Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company aims to displace the correspondent banking system by combining a US national bank charter with stablecoin-compatible rails and an AI-powered core banking platform called Marble. CEO Ferdinand Dabitz, 25, is on track to become the youngest CEO of a federally chartered US bank in over 140 years.
Key Points
- $180M Series B led by Tiger Global; total funding $210M since 2022
- Conditional OCC approval for US national bank charter (May 2026); final approval expected Q3 2026
- Building Global Dollar Bank: API-first, dollar accounts, virtual accounts, ACH/SWIFT/SEPA/stablecoin rails
- Marble core banking platform: AI-powered, 24/7/365 settlement
- Target: financial institutions in LatAm, SE Asia, Middle East, Africa needing direct USD clearing
- Kraken already processing transactions through Augustus
- President Greg Quarles: former CEO of Green Dot Bank, 18 years at OCC as examiner
- Personal investors: founders of Nubank, Ramp, Circle, Deel — fintech operators who know correspondent banking friction
- Nigel Morris (Capital One co-founder): "Correspondent banking is the last remaining part of the bank stack that hasn't been challenged yet"
- Key risk: OCC approval is conditional, not final; Column (William Hockey's infrastructure bank) took years to scale from existing charter
- Euro clearing already live through regulated Finnish entity