Business banking can’t be built from a one-size-fits-all approach. For startups in particular, there are a host of unique circumstances, needs, and realities that don’t always align with traditional bank processes and systems.
The idea behind Mercury has always been to build more than just a banking
Through programs like Mercury Raise and resources like our investor database, we’re able to offer true value to emerging and scaling startups, while bringing our own team closer to the companies we aim to serve so that we can better understand their unique needs and build with those needs in mind.
Read on to hear just a few of the ways Mercury’s platform uniquely understands and serves the needs of startups — straight from the founders who bank with us.
Speed on par with the pace of startups.
From the online application and onboarding flow to daily accounting and expense management, Mercury is designed to respect a founder’s most valuable asset: time. While plenty of traditional banking experiences are bogged down by excruciatingly long in-person visits, phone call holds, and clunky digital dashboards, Mercury focuses on delivering a smooth banking experience that minimizes the amount of time founders need to actually spend on day-to-day banking tasks.
For startups, speed can be way higher up the list [of priorities] than for legacy businesses — and we will always choose our products based on convenience and speed.
This was one of the first things to stand out for Alan Meaney, co-founder and CEO of Fund Recs, who moved his startup’s funds over to Mercury the weekend of the SVB crisis. “The timeline was literally: Sunday afternoon submission, [which took] no longer than ten minutes, and then by Sunday evening we were approved and ready to fund. I think we had our funds in there by Monday morning. So it was less than 24 hours from applying to [having an] account — and that’s with the backdrop of it being on a Sunday when everything was a bit hectic.”
And while the swift onboarding process might arguably have been more valuable in a moment of crisis when time was particularly of the essence, Alan notes that for startups, speed is always important. “For startups, speed can be way higher up the list [of priorities] than for legacy businesses — and we will always choose our products based on convenience and speed. So I think nailing that gives you an edge.”
An intuitive mobile app and digital dashboard.
Most startups rely on digital infrastructure — so it’s only natural that their banking matches that level of tech innovation. “A big [priority] for us in a banking partner, as a startup, is an excellent mobile app,” says Alan. “Getting notifications for things like outgoing payments and incoming wires is really handy. I don't want to have to log back into my account constantly when the activity is happening to check if a payment arrived. So it is great getting notifications directly from [the Mercury app] — it’s really smooth.”
Beyond the mobile app, Alan highlights that Mercury’s digital banking dashboard feels frictionless — down to the smallest details.
“Even just some basic things, like having to move our bills [and invoicing] to Mercury — the first thing you get asked for is a bank letter, and half the banks don’t really have the option to find a bank letter. You’re going through old statements and trying to hide data, but Mercury has a setup that’s so handy where you can straight away download your data with your wire details confirmed on it. That made the process a lot easier — and so few banks actually have that available. With Mercury, I found it within a couple of seconds looking for it. Same with the bill pay feature, where I can just drop a pdf in and it will pre-populate the banking details. [These are] neat little features that just make my life easier as a founder — anything that saves time and gives me information that I need quickly.”
For the startup market and all my startup friends that I have, Mercury is a no-brainer.
Multiple accounts to support custom accounting.
There are plenty of reasons that a founder might want to open multiple accounts with their bank, including maintaining a well-managed budget or customizing their accounting.
“I use the profit first method [of accounting] — and, you know, that's what a lot of these older banks don’t understand,” says Jack Zerby, a designer and serial founder who uses Mercury for several of the companies he has founded, including Biddy and Design for Decks. “When I go in there, and I'm like, ‘I need five checking accounts,’ they’re like, ‘What? Why would you need five checking accounts?’ But we want a tax one, an income one, expenses, savings. But it’s not really common for people to do that.”
And while opening multiple accounts is one benefit, the true value comes in being able to manage all of those accounts from a single dashboard, where you can easily move money between them — either manually or by setting up dollar-based or percentage-based auto-transfer rules that, once again, give founders more of their time back.
Easy setup and workflows for globally distributed teams.
“With [Design for Decks], the first company that I got set up on Mercury, I talked to my partners — Sam, who’s in Budapest, and Etan, who’s in Israel — and we didn’t really even have any other option at that point,” says Jack. “We couldn’t have a local bank because if I tried to open up an account at a local bank, they would need them there in person. And what if they didn’t have branches in Hungary or Israel? So with a distributed team, Mercury was ideal for us.”While it started out that Mercury was one of the only options that could easily support Jack’s international team, today, it’s his go-to — whether for companies he’s starting or founders he’s advising. “Now it’s just — hey, we’re gonna do the mockups, we’re gonna do the walkthroughs and user research, then when we’re ready to go, we’re gonna get a Stripe account, a Mercury account, a Notion account, a Github account — it’s just part of the whole suite of things. I can’t imagine going with [another option]. For the startup market and all my startup friends that I have, Mercury is a no-brainer.”
Mercury isn’t just designed for founders — it’s designed alongside founders. As we continue evolving our banking experience, our main objective will always be to unlock new possibilities for startups and deliver a banking experience with all of the capabilities you need, and none of the friction.
Want to discover what makes Mercury different? Take our demo for a spin.