Piermont Bank, a cloud-native digital commercial bank based in New York, has secured a strategic investment from Pegatron Venture Capital, the venture arm of global technology leader Pegatron Group. The investment will support expansion of Piermont's digital banking platforms, embedded banking capabilities, and infrastructure for next-generation financial services. Founded by CEO Wendy Cai-Lee, the bank serves fast-growing companies with modern technology infrastructure. Pegatron Venture Capital invests in transformative technologies across artificial intelligence, fintech, blockchain, and semiconductors. The firm's investment reflects confidence in technology-enabled banking infrastructure's role in supporting innovation and economic growth. Piermont plans to use the funds to strengthen its leadership, technology, and infrastructure whilst enhancing capabilities across embedded finance, payments, lending, and fund banking solutions.

As one of America's biggest Fintech startup Parker files for bankruptcy; CEO shares 6 'mistakes' he says would not repeat. TOI Tech Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Updated: May 14, 2026, 12:20 IST Representative Image One of America's biggest fintech startup Parker has filed for bankruptcy and is widely reported to have shut down. Widely known to be a well-funded startup, Parker offered corporate credit cards and banking services for e-commerce businesses. The startup was part of Y Combinator's winter 2019 cohort, and its Series A was led by Valar Ventures. Parker touted corporate credit that it said was designed for use by e-commerce companies. Company's co-founder and CEO Yacine Sibous said that Parker's "secret sauce" was an underwriting process that could properly assess e-commerce cash flows. While Parker's website is still up and doesn't mention any shutdown, company's troubles are reportedly confirmed in its May 7 filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. The filing states that the company has between $50 million and $100 million in assets, with liabilities in the same range. It also states that Parker has between 100 and 199 creditors. What CEO Yacine Sibous wrote on LinkedIn. While in a recent post on LinkedIn, Parker CEO and founder CEO Yacine Sibous did not explicitly confirm that the company has filed for bankruptcy or has shutdown, the CEO wrote that if he started over, he will do some things differently. Here's his LinkedIn post: My fintech company reached $65M revenue and raised over $200M in funding. If I had to start over today, I'd do these 6 things differently: 1. Keep the team small 2. Be diligent on culture fit 2. Have a longer term perspective 3. Build core infrastructure sooner 4. Think about defensibility from day one 5. Invest in compounding GTM channels early 6. Avoid over-hiring, reactive decisions, and doomsayers What Jason Mikula wrote on YC-backed Parker filing for bankruptcy. Fintech consultant Jason Mikula recently claimed that Parker had been in negotiations for a potential acquisition, with the failure of those talks ultimately leading to the startup's abrupt shutdown. Mikula added that this "has left small business customers in a tough spot" Scoop: YC-backed Parker, an SMB/ecom-focused banking & credit card fintech that abruptly shut down this week, has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy: The company, backed by names that include Y Combinator and Valar Ventures, claims on its website to have raised "over $200M in funding." Parker offered a credit card, treasury management/bank account, and bill pay, with a target market of ecommerce-focused small businesses. While technically true, $125M of the "over $200M" was an asset-backed lending facility supporting the company's credit card, not operational capital. Parker partnered with Piermont Bank on its banking product and Patriot Bank, N.A. on its commercial credit card. Per communications I've reviewed, Patriot became aware on May 3rd (Sunday) that Parker intended to cease operations the following day, Monday May 4th. Sources familiar with the situation have told me that a potential acquisition of the company Parker had been negotiating ultimately fell through, leading to the abrupt shutdown. Still, the sudden termination of the program has left small business customers in a tough spot - and pose questions about Piermont's and Patriot's oversight of the program. Per Parker Group's Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy petition, the company reports between $50m-$100m of assets and between $50m-$100m of liabilities, with between 100-200 creditors. As this is a liquidation, not a reorganization, there typically are no first-day motions. A creditor matrix has not yet been filed. Typically, the next steps would be the automatic appointment of a Chapter 7 trustee to oversee the assets of the estate. Within 14 days, the estate must file schedules with the court detailing all assets, all liabilities, executory contracts and unexpired leases, and a statement of financial affairs. Notably, any customer deposits are held at Piermont and should not be impacted by Parker's bankruptcy. However, as we've seen with previous fintech bankruptcies, the failure of a fintech partner can and has impacted "end users" ability to access their funds. The ability and time needed for Parker's small business customers to access any funds likely depends on how Parker's bank account offering was operationally structure - whether funds were held in an FBO at Piermont and ledgered by Parker (and/or a Parker service provider) vs. whether these accounts were held directly "on core" at Piermont. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity. End of Article

Piermont Bank expands Fund Finance capabilities to support emerging fund managers and fast-growing businesses. Piermont Bank Apr 15, 2026, 09:00 ET Barbara Fleming to head fund finance and spearhead the growing bank-fund partnerships powering innovation and economic growth NEW YORK, April 15, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ - Piermont Bank, a cloud-native commercial bank built for fast-growing companies, today announced the expansion of its fund finance capabilities, deepening its commitment to the evolving private capital and venture capital ecosystem and the flow of capital to high-growth businesses. As private capital and venture capital markets continue to grow, fund finance is playing an increasingly important role in enabling efficient capital deployment across the investment landscape. Banks and investment funds are working more closely to structure flexible financing solutions that support venture-backed companies, private equity sponsored portfolio companies as well as the broader small and mid-sized business economy. Piermont's strategy builds on a longstanding focus: supporting emerging fund managers. In the last few years, Piermont Bank has successfully supported fund managers with capital call lines, NAV facilities, and management lines. The bank has deep expertise in working with first-time GPs and women-led funds. These managers are often at the forefront of innovation and local economic development yet frequently face gaps in access to tailored banking and related operational support. "Fund finance is core to how capital moves through today's innovation economy," said Wendy Cai-Lee, Founder and CEO of Piermont Bank. "But what we're seeing, especially among emerging managers, is that the need goes beyond capital. They are looking for banking partners who can collaborate on strategy while also supporting the operational backbone of their platforms. That's where Piermont can add the additional support and value." Built on a cloud-native infrastructure, Piermont has developed capabilities that extend beyond traditional lending, enabling integrated support across capital operations, liquidity management, and fund-level banking workflows. This approach allows the bank to partner more effectively with fund managers who require both financing solutions and modernized operational support to scale their platforms. To support this next phase of growth, Piermont has appointed Barbara Fleming as Head of Fund Finance. Fleming brings extensive experience across venture capital and private equity banking, with a track record of building fund banking platforms, developing credit frameworks, and supporting investment firms and their portfolio companies with tailored financing solutions. In her role, she will oversee Piermont's fund finance platform, deepen relationships across the investment ecosystem, and advance the bank's efforts to deliver integrated banking solutions for fund managers. "I'm thrilled to join Piermont, a digital-first bank that has already laid the groundwork for stronger bank-fund collaboration," said Fleming. "Today, success in fund finance means co-creating strategies with managers while also delivering the operational capabilities that bring those strategies to life - something that's especially valuable for emerging managers navigating growth." Fleming's appointment comes at a time when demand for more flexible, transparent, and technology-enabled financing solutions is accelerating. The global fund finance market is expected to grow to over USD 2.5 trillion by 2030, from USD 1.2 trillion in 2024. As fund managers seek more integrated banking partners and companies look for capital that moves at the pace of their operations, fund finance is playing a larger role in enabling efficient capital deployment. By investing in this capability, Piermont Bank aims to further its mission of serving as a capital partner to fast-growing companies, supporting not just their banking needs but also how they scale the capital solutions and compete in an increasingly complex environment. About Piermont Bank Piermont Bank is a digital specialty commercial bank with a mission to serve fast-growing companies. As the first cloud native, purpose-built banking platform in the U.S., Piermont was built with modern technology infrastructure that allows greater flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. Simplifile combined commercial banking expertise with innovative technology to deliver fast decisions, practical solutions, and differentiated banking products for today's entrepreneurs and tomorrow's industry giants. To learn more about Piermont Bank, please visit www.piermontbank.com or email [email protected]. SOURCE Piermont Bank