# Grasshopper Bank

Grasshopper Bank is a Bank / Wealth / Trust based in New York, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Bank / Wealth / Trust
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** New York, NY, United States
- **Founded:** 2019
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** www.grasshopper.bank
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/grasshopperbank

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Founded in 2019 under a de novo national bank charter — the first of its kind issued in over a decade — Grasshopper Bank emerged with an explicit mandate to serve small businesses, startups, and private-capital investors. Led by President and CEO Mike Butler, the bank operates from its headquarters in New York City. It was capitalized by a group of institutional and private investors who saw a gap in a US banking market where the fastest-growing companies often struggled to find a commercial bank that understood their cap tables and cash-burn dynamics. Grasshopper structures its commercial lending around the needs of venture-backed technology and life-sciences companies, offering venture debt facilities designed to sit alongside equity rounds rather than replace them. Beyond lending, the platform provides full-stack digital banking — deposit products, treasury management, and API-driven integrations — targeted at sponsors and their portfolio companies. Its strategy spans multiple asset classes, including commercial and industrial (C&I) lending, structured finance, and the provision of banking-as-a-service to select fintech partners. The bank typically targets growth-stage companies, extending credit to pre-profit businesses backed by recognizable venture capital firms. While individual portfolio names remain largely undisclosed as a condition of its banking relationships, Grasshopper's marketing and regulatory disclosures indicate a book concentrated in technology, biotechnology, and specialty finance. Grasshopper Bank maintains a single physical presence beyond its New York headquarters: a technology and operations hub in Dallas, Texas. Team size and total assets under management are not publicly disclosed with quarterly consistency. The bank's 2023 and 2024 regulatory filings show continued balance-sheet growth, reflecting an increasing pace of venture-debt origination. No adjacent family office or separate philanthropic vehicle operates under the Grasshopper umbrella — the organization functions solely as a regulated banking entity. The bank remains privately held, with no publicly traded parent. As a de novo, Grasshopper occupies an unusual regulatory posture. Unlike a typical community bank, it targeted a national client base from inception. Unlike a Silicon Valley Bank-style non-bank lender, it holds a full banking charter, giving it access to FDIC-insured deposits and the Federal Reserve discount window. That hybrid structure makes it a direct-balance-sheet lender with a stable, low-cost funding base, competing against both traditional debt funds and larger regional banks for founder relationships.

## Sectors

- FinTech
- Enterprise Software
- Venture Capital

## People

- Mike Butler — President & CEO

## Questions

### What is Grasshopper Bank's core client focus?

Grasshopper targets small- to medium-sized businesses in the innovation economy, particularly venture-backed technology, life-sciences, and fintech companies. It also provides banking services to the private equity and venture capital sponsors that back them. The bank structures its deposit and lending products around the specific cash-flow and cap-table dynamics of high-growth, pre-profit companies.

### How does Grasshopper Bank source its lending opportunities?

The bank sources primarily through direct relationships with venture capital and private equity firms. Because Grasshopper was purpose-built for the innovation economy, its bankers spend significant time embedded in the VC ecosystem, often receiving referrals from sponsor firms that have existing portfolio-company banking relationships with the bank. It does not operate a branch-based retail deposit franchise.

### How is Grasshopper Bank different from a fintech lender?

Grasshopper holds its own national banking charter and FDIC insurance, which allows it to take customer deposits directly and fund its own loan book. By contrast, many fintech lenders must rely on partner banks for charter access and funding. Grasshopper's de novo charter lets it operate an API-based digital interface while maintaining direct regulatory status as a principal lender and deposit-taker.

## Related profiles

- [Graphic Communications Conference](https://altss.com/profile/graphic-communications-conference)
- [Gratus Wealth Advisors](https://altss.com/profile/gratus-wealth-advisors)

---

Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/grasshopper-bank

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology