Black-Owned Online Bank Gets $45 Million Investment from Obamas' Advisor

The Atlanta-based Black banking startup backed by rapper Killer Mike, entrepreneur Ryan Glover and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, said today that it got an eight-figure infusion of capital to help it expand.

The company, Greenwood Inc., said it raised $45 million in a round of funding led by investment firm Pendulum Holdings LLC, which also included Cercano Management, Cohen Circle, The George Kaiser Family Foundation, and NextEra Energy.

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Pendulum is an investment advisory firm founded by D’Rita and Robbie Robinson, who in 2017 was hired to handle investment management for former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama. Earlier this year, Pendulum got an undisclosed cash infusion when merchant bank BDT took a minority stake in the company, and has since been on a tear investing in brands with Black founders. In October it was part of a $6.7 million investment in Detroit-based cosmetics firm The Lip Bar Inc. In July, Pendulum poured $3 million into Spearhead, a London-based spirits company.

But the Greenwood investment appears to be the largest yet. Greenwood launched in October 2020 offering a host of digitally-based financial services including savings and spending accounts, debit cards, peer-to-peer money transfer and ATM access. The company says it now has more than 100,000 customers.

Greenwood has already expanded beyond financial services with other acquisitions. It acquired The Gathering Spot, an Atlanta-based company that runs membership-based clubs for networking, dining and co-working in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., with another location under construction in Los Angeles. And it bought Valence, a digital recruitment and career development platform for Black professionals. The company said at the time that it planned to create “a trifecta of fintech product, million-member community, and career development platform.”

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