Kasasa
Kasasa is an Austin-based financial technology company that provides reward checking, savings, and loan products alongside enabling technologies (websites, digital onboarding, fraud protection) exclusively to over 600 community banks and credit unions across the U.S.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kasasa does
Kasasa, Ltd. is an Austin, Texas-based financial technology company founded in 2003 that operates a wholesale B2B2C model, providing retail banking products, enabling technologies, and marketing services exclusively to community banks and credit unions. The company's core product suite includes a family of free reward checking and savings accounts (Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Cash Back, Kasasa Eats, Kasasa Play, and Kasasa Saver) that pay consumers cash rewards, interest, or refunds based on monthly qualification activity, alongside the Take-Back Loan feature that permits prepayment with penalty-free access to excess funds. It complements these consumer-facing products with institution-side technology modules including SureLock fraud protection, FIRSTBranch website hosting (used by 850+ financial institutions), and INMO omnichannel digital account opening.
Underlying these products is a proprietary technology platform that integrates payment processing via Dwolla, consumer financial data aggregation via Plaid, and SMS-based alerting and two-factor authentication via dedicated short codes. The company reports that Kasasa demand deposit accounts average a 2% all-in cost, deliver 6x higher average balances per account, 45% more non-interest income for partner institutions, and 2/3 less reliance on expensive CDs relative to traditional accounts, while FIRSTBranch reduces account acquisition costs by 56% and INMO increases digital application completion by 26%.
Kasasa monetizes through subscription and managed-services revenue streams: financial institution partnership fees for licensing Kasasa-branded products, plus technology services fees for FIRSTBranch websites, INMO onboarding, and SureLock fraud protection. Distribution is purely indirect, reaching consumers through 600+ community bank and credit union partners across all 50 U.S. states, with 3M+ consumer accounts opened since launch and $2.7B+ in cumulative consumer rewards distributed. The company is privately held with no disclosed parent, institutional investors, or funding rounds.
Kasasa firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kasasa
- Legal name
- Kasasa, LTD
- Website
- https://kasasa.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Kasasa is an Austin-based financial technology company that provides reward checking, savings, and loan products alongside enabling technologies (websites, digital onboarding, fraud protection) exclusively to over 600 community banks and credit unions across the U.S.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kasasa industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Banking Technology
- akta.pro primary industry
- BaaS Platforms & Sponsor Bank Enablement (FSAGALAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Risk, Compliance & Controls for Embedded Finance (KYB/KYC/AML, Fraud, Disputes) (FSAGALAK)
Keywords
Where Kasasa is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Kasasa business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Financial Institution Partnership Fees: Kasasa charges participating community banks and credit unions fees for providing retail banking products, enabling technologies, and professional services. The company earns revenue from these B2B partnerships where financial institutions license Kasasa's branded products and platforms.
- Technology Services: Fees for technology products including FIRSTBranch websites, INMO digital account opening, and SureLock fraud protection sold to community financial institutions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free reward checking with multiple reward options |
| Other | Monthly | Take-Back Loans with fixed rates |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Kasasa product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kasasa is a financial technology company that sells branded retail banking products, enabling software platforms, and marketing services exclusively to community banks and credit unions. Its core products include Kasasa reward checking and savings accounts, the Take-Back® consumer loan feature, SureLock™ fraud protection, FIRSTBranch® websites, and INMO® digital account opening. Partner institutions then offer these Kasasa-branded products to their own consumer customers under a B2B2C model.
Product overview
Kasasa is a financial technology company providing a platform of banking products and enabling technologies exclusively through community financial institutions (banks and credit unions). The core product suite includes Kasasa reward checking and savings accounts (Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Cash Back, Kasasa Eats, Kasasa Play, Kasasa Saver), the Take-Back® Loan with unique prepayment-withdrawal capability, and SureLock™ fraud protection. Additional modules include FIRSTBranch® websites for digital branch experiences, INMO® digital account opening for omnichannel onboarding, and various financial calculators. Kasasa also offers optimized marketing services and dedicated support to help community financial institutions drive deposit growth and engagement.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- SureLock™: Proactive fraud protection solution that helps safeguard consumers against scams and generates recurring revenue for community financial institutions.
- Take-Back® Loan
- FIRSTBranch®
- INMO®
- Kasasa Cash®
- Kasasa Cash Back®
- Kasasa Eats®
- Kasasa Play®
- Kasasa Saver®
Products and services
- Kasasa Accounts (Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Cash Back, Kasasa Eats, Kasasa Play, Kasasa Saver) Suite of free reward checking and savings accounts offered through community financial institutions. Accounts earn cash rewards, high interest, or refunds based on monthly qualification criteria such as direct deposit, debit card usage, and online banking activities. Rewards options include up to 5.00% APY (Kasasa Cash), up to 6.00% cash back on debit purchases (Kasasa Cash Back), cash back on groceries and delivery (Kasasa Eats), refunds on streaming services up to $15/month (Kasasa Play), and high-interest savings (Kasasa Saver).
- SureLock™ Proactive fraud protection solution that safeguards consumers against scams. Features include scam risk assessments and dark web monitoring, designed to generate recurring revenue for community financial institutions.
- Take-Back® Loan Innovative loan product allowing borrowers to make prepayments above their monthly minimum payment to reduce interest costs, while maintaining the ability to withdraw those extra funds (Take-Backs™) penalty-free if needed for unexpected expenses. Used for auto loans, home improvement, weddings, and vacations.
- FIRSTBranch® Websites Full-featured online website experience for community banks and credit unions. More than 850 financial institutions use FIRSTBranch for increased traffic, engagement, and account opening. Reported to lower account acquisition costs by 56%.
- INMO® Digital Account Opening Omnichannel onboarding platform enabling applicants to open and fund accounts in just five minutes. Reported to increase digital application completion by 26%.
Quantifiable outcome
- 6x higher average balances per account
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Kasasa
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Kasasa technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability2 records
Feature5 records
Kasasa partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Dwolla, Inc.corePartnership for payment processing infrastructure. Kasasa uses Dwolla's platform for handling funds in Kasasa Loans and Kasasa Loans+ products. Funds are held by Dwolla's financial institution partners as specified in Dwolla's Terms of Service.
- Plaid Technologies, Inc.corePartnership for gathering end user data from Financial Institutions. Plaid enables secure access to consumer financial information to power Kasasa's services, with data transferred and processed according to Kasasa's Privacy Policy.
- Community Banks and Credit UnionscoreOver 600 community banks and credit unions across all 50 states offer Kasasa-branded accounts to consumers. Partner institutions distribute reward checking, savings, and loan products while benefiting from Kasasa's technology platforms and marketing support.
- Atlantic Federal Credit UnionminorCase study customer with $66M in Kasasa Cash total deposits, demonstrating successful deposit growth using Kasasa products.
- Jolt Credit UnionminorCase study customer with $20M in Kasasa deposit growth achieved in 6 months, demonstrating effectiveness of Kasasa products for deposit growth without relying on CD specials.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Kasasa competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Fiserv: Large financial services technology provider with digital banking, account processing, and payments products used by community FIs. Broader portfolio and global scale than Kasasa, but competes for the same IT/digital wallet at community institutions.
- Finastra: Large financial software provider offering core, digital, lending, and treasury platforms to community and mid-market FIs. Overlaps with Kasasa on digital account opening and lending experiences.
- Temenos: Global banking software provider with core, digital, and analytics offerings for retail and community banks. Comparable digital channels and onboarding capabilities but broader international footprint and core-banking depth.
- Jack Henry & Associates: Long-established core banking and digital technology provider serving thousands of community FIs. Overlaps with Kasasa on digital channels (Banno) and account opening, but operates as a broad incumbent across core, payments, and lending rather than a specialist reward-checking platform.
- FIS (Fidelity National Information Services): Global financial technology provider with core banking, digital, and risk solutions for community and mid-sized banks and credit unions. Competes with Kasasa on digital channels and account opening at the same buyer.
Emerging players
- MX Technologies: Financial data platform providing aggregation, connectivity, and data enrichment used by banks, credit unions, and fintechs. Adjacent to Kasasa's data/Plaid-mediated consumer workflows; increasingly expanding into engagement and analytics for community FIs.
- Backbase: Digital banking platform focused on customer journey orchestration, onboarding, and engagement for banks and credit unions. Overlaps with Kasasa's FIRSTBranch and INMO offerings, though Backbase tends to serve larger institutions globally.
Direct peers
- nCino: Cloud banking platform specializing in commercial and retail lending, account opening, and digital onboarding for banks and credit unions. Comparable buyer profile and adjacent product overlap, especially in account opening and consumer lending.
- Alkami Technology: Provides a digital banking and data platform exclusively to community banks and credit unions. Directly comparable B2B SaaS model serving the same community FI buyer with a similar product suite spanning online/mobile banking, account opening, and marketing.
- Q2 Holdings: Provides digital banking and lending solutions (now part of the merged Q2/Happay/Defynite platforms) to community and mid-market FIs. Directly competes with FIRSTBranch websites and INMO digital account opening.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Kasasa social profiles
Digital presenceKasasa financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kasasa leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Kasasa funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kasasa M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kasasa
What does Kasasa do?
Kasasa is a financial technology company that sells branded retail banking products, enabling software platforms, and marketing services exclusively to community banks and credit unions. Its core products include Kasasa reward checking and savings accounts, the Take-Back® consumer loan feature, SureLock™ fraud protection, FIRSTBranch® websites, and INMO® digital account opening. Partner institutions then offer these Kasasa-branded products to their own consumer customers under a B2B2C model.
Is Kasasa a public or private company?
Kasasa is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Kasasa founded?
Kasasa was founded in 2003. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Kasasa based?
Kasasa is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does Kasasa make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Financial Institution Partnership Fees are the primary driver. The others are technology Services.
Who are Kasasa's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Fiserv, Finastra, Temenos, Jack Henry & Associates and FIS (Fidelity National Information Services). Emerging players are MX Technologies and Backbase. Direct peers are nCino, Alkami Technology and Q2 Holdings.
Does Kasasa have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kasasa.
What industry is Kasasa in?
Kasasa's product category is Community Banking Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGALAA, BaaS Platforms & Sponsor Bank Enablement, with a secondary code of FSAGALAK, Risk, Compliance & Controls for Embedded Finance (KYB/KYC/AML, Fraud, Disputes).