By building a mobile-first banking service, Dave put itself head-to-head with some of the largest financial institutions in the world. And if you think about it, the name is fitting for a startup taking on the Goliaths of banking.
Dave initially launched in 2017 to give its customers the finance tools to avoid overdraft fees. Building on the success of those tools, Dave has expanded to offer even more products — including its Dave checking account.
Now, over four million people use Dave for its budgeting, job search, banking and overdraft tools, according to the company. More than 750,000 people have signed up to create a Dave checking account.
And Dave is trying to keep the momentum going. On Monday, the company announced that it raised $50 million in equity from Norwest Venture Partners. This comes just four months after Dave raised $110 million in debt financing to scale its checking account feature.
The company revealed that the new funding gives Dave a valuation of $1 billion.
Dave plans to use the new money to expand its team, hiring for roles in engineering, product, marketing and customer success.
“We’re looking to find the best technical talent in LA so that we can continue creating an unparalleled experience for our more than four million users and build out the best digital bank available in the U.S.,” Dave CEO Jason Wilk told Built In. “We realize Los Angeles is an incredibly competitive market for technical talent so this new infusion of capital will allow us to be very competitive when it comes to compensating our talent in terms of cash but also in terms of opportunity.”
Wilk also adds that the company is looking to hire up to 100 people in the coming year.
Wilk spoke to Built In in 2018 to share Dave’s origin story and what it was like working with Mark Cuban. You can read the interview here.
