Slash Financial, a business banking and payments platform, has raised $100 million in a Series C round at a $1.4 billion valuation, achieving unicorn status.
The round was led by Ribbit Capital, with Khosla Ventures and Goodwater Capital which led the prior Series B co-leading. Returning investors included New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Y Combinator participating for the fourth time. This brings Slash’s total funding to about $160 million. The $1.4B post-money valuation is a significant increase from the ~$370M valuation in its Series B about 16 months earlier, when it raised $41M.
The company reports nearly $300 million in annualized revenue and claims to be profitable. It serves around 5,000 businesses, including fast-growing companies. Victor Cardenas and Kevin Bai, now 24-year-olds and college dropouts former Stanford students and Thiel Fellows. They started the company as teenagers. Slash provides an all-in-one business banking platform with accounts, corporate cards, treasury management, payments, and transfers.
It positions itself as a modern alternative to traditional banks and competitors like Ramp and Brex, emphasizing real-time financial visibility, automation, and tools tailored for businesses including support for crypto and stablecoins in some contexts. Alongside the funding announcement, Slash launched Twin, described as an AI-powered banking assistant. It can autonomously handle tasks like payments, invoices, expense management, and even control corporate cards on behalf of users—framed as agentic payments or letting AI agents transact independently.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 20 (June 8 – Sept 5, 2026).
Register for Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab.
The company originally focused on vertical banking for sneaker resellers and similar niches but pivoted after market disruptions including impacts tied to Kanye West’s Yeezy-related issues, which affected that ecosystem. It has since broadened into general business finance with heavy AI integration. This round reflects strong investor confidence in AI-driven fintech for corporate spend management, especially amid competition in the space.
The involvement of top-tier VCs like Ribbit, Khosla, and Goodwater highlights the bet on scalable, automated business banking tools. Valuation nearly quadrupled from ~$370M in the Series B just 16 months prior, validating rapid growth and the pivot from niche sneaker-reseller banking to a generalist AI-powered business banking platform.
Adds ~$100M (total funding now >$160M) for product development, global expansion, and accelerating AI automation. The company reports ~$300M annualized revenue, profitability, ~5,000 business customers, and strong stablecoin payment volume > $1B annualized in some reports.
Launch of Twin enables conversational finance management, autonomous tasks like payments, invoices, card control, insights, and agentic workflows. This positions Slash as more than a bank — an intelligent financial OS. Intensified competition in spend management and corporate cards directly challenges Ramp, valued much higher at ~$32B and Brex recently acquired by Capital One at a steep discount.
Slash emphasizes AI agents, stablecoin support, and real-time automation as edges against legacy banks and incumbents. Highlights investor appetite for automation in back-office finance. Reinforces a broader 2026 trend of larger, concentrated fintech deals focused on profitability + AI, amid stablecoin growth and non-bank competition. Two 24-year-old college dropouts scaling to unicorn status underscores shifting investor openness to young, adaptable teams over traditional credentials — especially after surviving a near-death pivot.
Slash’s heavy processing of stablecoin payments for businesses turns crypto infrastructure into practical, boring corporate finance tools. Positive for late-stage fintech in a selective funding environment; larger rounds are going to profitable, high-growth players integrating AI deeply.