Unit – Providing an all-in-one and reliable banking-as-a-service platform

Banking as a service, or BaaS, enables non-banks to provide fundamental financial services to their consumers through API integration with banks. Non-banks (such as fintech and even non-fintech companies) create products on top of existing banking infrastructure. BaaS promotes financial services competition by allowing non-banks to provide fundamental banking services. As a result, innovation is pushed forward, and customers have access to more user-friendly products. Furthermore, it leads to increased financial transparency.

Unit is one such firm that is building the platform to power the next generation of financial services. Their simple and powerful banking-as-a-service API helps companies launch new banking products in weeks - not years. Unit's Dashboard and suite of APIs, SDKs, and white-labeled UIs enables developers to build financial features into their product — cards, accounts, payments, lending, and more. The company has created the largest set of banking features available combined with their native ledger to build a truly flexible API, with a turnkey Dashboard. They also streamline compliance and have built-in bank relationships so you can make your customers the top priority. Unit has 4 bank partners: Piermont Bank, Thread Bank, Blue Ridge Bank, and Choice Bank; and will continue to add more bank partners. Most features are available on all bank partners; however some features are not yet available on all bank partners. When a feature isn't available on all banks, the documentation will note that.

Robust BaaS Services Offered

API Coverage: The SDKs are updated asynchronously, once new capabilities are built into the API. Note that the SDKs are open source, and you may update them if you need a certain API endpoint that isn't currently covered. Otherwise, you may reach out to us and they will make an effort to accommodate your request. You may report any issues you find with the SDK by creating a Github issue (Typescript issues, Python issues). As previously mentioned, the SDKs are open source, so if you have resolved an issue locally, please raise a PR and they will publish it, so that other members of the Unit developer community benefits from it. Unit, with the help of developer community, maintains open source SDKs in multiple programming languages. The SDKs are available on Github, and encapsulate all resources and API endpoints.

Accounts: Unit makes it simple to create accounts for businesses, sole proprietors, and individuals with unique routing and account numbers. Unit streamlines KYC/KYB, AML, fraud, application reviews, and other compliance and onboarding requirements. Create interest-earning FDIC insured deposit accounts for individuals and sole proprietors with features that support cards, money movement, bill pay, cash advances, ATMs, and more. Accounts can be used for different purposes including checking, savings, or tax. Create as many accounts per customer as you need to support your business use case. Each account receives a unique account number and can be managed separately. Enable customers to receive interest on their account balance. You can easily implement different interest for different customers, for example one amount for “VIP” customers and another for “standard” customers, including the ability to offer more interest than the bank provides. Optimize your customers' income by allowing them to spend on certain items tax-free. Unit allows for HSA, FSA, and HRA debit cards to be issued to customers' accounts.

White-Labeled UIs: Launch faster by eliminating the need to build an application form. Users can onboard customers with a branded, responsive, optimized, and compliant application UI. Deliver custom branded monthly statements to your customers with ease. Their white-labeled statements are offered in HTML or PDF format as well as English and Spanish. Create a better experience by providing customers with a branded letter confirming their account creation and details. Create dedicated accounts used for tax management that can help independent workers and freelancers automate their taxes.

Cards: Create charge cards for your business and sole proprietor customers. Charge cards are cards with a credit limit that must be repaid in full every month. They are issued by Visa and can be used anywhere Visa is accepted worldwide. Issue physical cards with on-demand or custom designs created and shipped directly to your customers through a single API call. Create debit cards for your business, individual, or joint account customers. Debit cards are issued by Visa and can be used anywhere Visa is accepted worldwide. Build customized cash-back rewards using the card generated interchange. Unit provides interchange information on every transaction as well as simple controls to implement how much to distribute to each customer. Automatically shift money between accounts on a purchase, restrict purchases to specific institutions, or more by automatically approving, declining, or adjusting debit card transactions based on whatever criteria you create. Allow for more convenience and card usability by allowing customers to add their cards to Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay. Enhance security of your customer’s accounts and data by ensuring that only people within your organization are able to access the Dashboard.

Payments: Build in the ability to receive funds, make payments, and withdraw money; with fees you can implement on these activities. Unit’s built-in ledger gives you flexibility, control, and reporting with real-time data on every transaction. Allow customers to move funds between their accounts and any external bank account by receiving an ACH credit or originating an ACH debit. Receive ACH and wire payments from across borders. Customers can access thousands of payment systems around the world for easy money retrieval. Increase deposits and account usage by enabling customers to redirect all or a portion of their paychecks to be deposited into their account automatically. Provide convenience to customers by allowing them to make deposits into their accounts at thousands of ATMs. Enable customers to instantly and conveniently deposit checks simply by uploading images of the front and back of the check. Easily create ecommerce and online payment experiences that help customers get paid by their customers directly into their accounts. Create free and instant payments within your organization. Book payments can be between customers, between accounts for one customer, between your operational accounts and customer accounts, or between your operational accounts. Receive funds directly into your customers' accounts via wire transfers (Fedwire) with just the routing and account numbers.

Lending: Provide your customers with fast and seamless access to funds they need. Build flows that allow you to automate lending and getting paid back. Create charge cards for your business and sole proprietor customers. Charge cards are cards with a credit limit that must be repaid in full every month. They are issued by Visa and can be used anywhere Visa is accepted worldwide. Offer customers instant cash advances using information you have on their income and ability to repay to determine how much to provide, with the ability to set up automatic repayment. For example, give businesses a cash advance based on the recurring revenue you know they generate. Create new revenue streams by building a factoring product. Simplify the experience by programmatically capturing repayment when your customer gets paid. For example, give freelancers an advance on an invoice that gets paid back minus a fee on invoice payment. Track, manage, and report on all of your customers' activities so your team can help your customers and see how your financial products are performing. Maintain the appropriate balance of collaboration and control while ensuring that your customer’s data is secure and protected with flexible user permissions for different roles.

Itai Damti | CEO

He has been passionate about building infrastructure from a young age, and at Unit Itai is lucky to do it as part of a great team. The more he works on infrastructure, the more he realizes that it's a major source of progress and impact on people's lives. This makes him even more passionate. Mr. Damti is a generalist and lifelong learner of leadership, science, nature, business, design, music, and more.

"Unit's mission is expanding financial access. We help ~200 customers, from public companies to startups, build financial features into their products: accounts, cards, payments, and lending."