Arizona Tribune - Grasshopper Concludes Landmark Year with 83% Asset Growth, AI-Driven Banking Innovations, and Merger Announcement by Leading Digital Lender

"2025 was a defining year for Grasshopper, not just for what we achieved as a company, but for the small businesses, builders and innovators we serve everyday," said Mike Butler, CEO of Grasshopper. "From completing our acquisition of Auto Club Trust and scaling our digital platform to launching AI-powered tools, every step we took was grounded in one goal: empowering the people and companies driving the modern economy forward. As we enter our next chapter with Enova, we're energized by the opportunity to deepen that impact."

Key Growth Metrics

Grasshopper experienced significant growth across all business lines in 2025, including Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) Banking, Startup Banking, SBA lending, Embedded Finance, and more. Below is a summary of the Bank's growth:

• Total assets reached $1.59 billion, 83% growth year over year

• Total loans reached $1.11 billion, 73% growth year over year

• Total deposits reached $2.94 billion, 125% growth year over year

  • Deposits held on the Bank's balance sheet reached $1.42 billion, a 78% increase from the prior year

• Total revenue reached $60.64 million, representing 191% growth year over year

• Net income totalled $37.10 million reflecting a 1,710% increase year over year, driven by sustained revenue growth, the reversal of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance, and operational efficiency

• Welcomed over 6,300 small business and startups to its business banking platform, generating over $62.70 million in new digital deposits from its Innovator and Accelerator product suites

• Originated $94.72 million in total SBA loan production, driven in part by more than 1,000 digital SBA 7(a) loan applications

• Grew $1.19 billion in Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) program deposits and processed over $40 billion in transaction volume

• Secured 4 industry awards, highlighting Grasshopper's continued leadership in banking technology: Best Use of Tech in Business Banking at the Banking Tech Awards USA (for the third consecutive year), Banking Tech of the Year at the US Fintech Awards, Gold Award for Banking-as-a-Service Innovation at Juniper Research's Future Digital Awards, and the Nimble Award at Cornerstone Advisors' GonzoBanker Awards

Expanding Technology, Products & Partnership Ecosystem

In 2025, Grasshopper continued to broaden its technology infrastructure and fintech partnership ecosystem, introducing new AI-powered financial workflows and augmenting its platform capabilities to deliver faster, more seamless digital experiences that align with the pace and complexity of the business and innovation economy.

Leading the way in banking innovation, Grasshopper also advanced its generative AI vision in collaboration with Narmi, to become the first U.S bank to launch a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, enabling startups and small businesses to securely connect their accounts to Claude, Anthrophic's advanced AI assistant. The MCP server deployment later expanded to support ChatGPT from OpenAI and OAuth 2.0-based authorization for secure, permissioned data access, laying the foundation for seamless connectivity with other large language models (LLMs) in the future and setting a standard for how AI can operate safely inside regulated financial systems.

Through its partnership with Lendio, Grasshopper brought instant SBA loan offers to market powered by AI-enabled decisioning tools, streamlining traditionally slow, manual SBA lending processes and accelerating onboarding, underwriting, and approvals for small business borrowers. The Bank also expanded its work with Enfi, harnessing the company's advanced AI capabilities to improve efficiency and precision in credit risk assessments. In parallel, Grasshopper optimized its digital origination platform through partnerships with MANTL and Alloy, supporting its front-end applications, identity verification, and workflow automation.

Grasshopper Completes Acquisition of Auto Club Trust

In April, Grasshopper completed its acquisition of Auto Club Trust, becoming the exclusive bank powering depository and lending offerings to more than 13 million AAA members and insurers across The Auto Club Group's 14-state territory. The acquisition marked a significant expansion into consumer banking through one of the largest affinity channels in North America, establishing a complementary line of business alongside Grasshopper's existing startup, SMB, and fintech-focused commercial operations.

Enova Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Grasshopper

In December, Grasshopper entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Enova International, a leading financial services company powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $369 million. The combination brings together Enova's scaled consumer and SMB lending capabilities with Grasshopper's digital banking infrastructure, creating a more diversified financial services platform capable of serving a wider set of customers across states and product types. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary regulatory and shareholder approvals.

To learn more about Grasshopper and additional key developments, please visit the Grasshopper website here.

About Grasshopper Bank
With total assets of approximately $1.6 billion, Grasshopper Bank is a client-first, full service digital bank serving the business and innovation economy. Grasshopper Bank replaces the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to banking with a suite of products and services tailored to specific industries and a passionate team of experts with deep expertise in their fields. Grasshopper Bank's banking solutions cover small businesses, startups, venture capital and private equity firms, fintech-focused Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and commercial API banking platforms, SBA lending, commercial real estate lending, yacht lending, and white-labeled consumer banking. Headquartered in New York, New York, the bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and is an Equal Housing/Equal Opportunity Lender. For more information, visit Grasshopper Bank's website at www.grasshopper.bank or follow Grasshopper Bank on LinkedIn or X.

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SOURCE: Grasshopper

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