The 24-year-old who’s building the first digital bank for crypto firms and SMEs

Starting a bank is no small feat, especially when you’re 24 years old. And yet, this isn’t Jeremy Berger’s first rodeo, having already co-founded a peer-to-peer lending startup before.

That venture led Berger to cross paths with Vladislav Solodkiy and Igor Pesin, who were investors with fintech fund Life Sreda. After a meeting at a fintech conference in Las Vegas, Berger asked them to invest in his startup. He didn’t get the money, but he left a strong impression.

Solodkiy and Pesin told him, “We like you as an entrepreneur. If you ever come to Singapore, let’s reconnect and see what happens.” Not long after, Berger found himself in search of a different environment and challenge, so he move from the US to the city-state.

Arival founders (L to R) Vladislav Solodkiy, Igor Pesin, and Jeremy Berger / Photo credit: Arival

“I came here on a blind leap of faith, with no job offers on the table,” Berger tells Tech In Asia. “It was super nerve-wracking for me. In your early 20s, you can have a big risk appetite, but at the same time, you need some security and stability.”

He arrived in late 2017 and spent a couple of months navigating the ecosystem. He got some job offers, but eventually found Solodkiy and Pesin’s idea irresistible. Berger knew what his next step was going to be, and it involved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Small businesses are struggling

In Singapore, “99.9 percent of all businesses are SMEs,” while in the US, “28 million small businesses exist; they’ve been the backbone of the economy for as long as we can remember,” according to Berger.

He also cited a study from Ernst & Young which found that “99.5 percent of businesses in the G7 countries are SMEs, and 50 percent of them are underserved in terms of having access to different financial tools and banking products. It’s a global problem that we’re trying to help solve.”

As the COO of Arival Bank, Berger hopes to be part of the solution.

Arival aims to provide a banking platform that caters to SMEs, freelancers, and crypto-related firms. Traditional banks are reluctant to work with such non-traditional businesses largely because they’re unfamiliar with the potential risks.

Arival puts a heavy emphasis on building strong compliance procedures that are suited for SMEs and crypto businesses. To this end, the startup hired prominent compliance firms Promontory and DLA Piper to help develop a know-your-customer process that goes beyond what traditional banks do. Considering the “non-standard” nature of its clients, partnering with such prominent consultants helps to reassure regulators.

An open API strategy sets Arival apart. “Traditional banks don’t do a great job of delivering the best products and services all in one place or one platform. This means that these businesses are forced to go from bank to bank, fintech to fintech, to look for what they want – it’s a very chaotic experience. We’re asking the question: what if all your favorite fintechs existed on one bank?” says Berger. He hopes Arival can be a one-stop shop for all the fintech services that an SME could ever need.

The startup has identified a few key products, including lending, savings accounts, accounting services, and more. It plans to flesh out its product line with more partners. Currently, Arival is working with Mbanq and IdentityMind.

From book to bank

Arival’s journey more or less began in October 2017, when Solodkiy published his book The First Fintech Bank’s Arival, which basically describes the concept of open API banking and how fintech firms and banks can collaborate.

Early wins and the future