The Albany Gazette - Glide Raises $15M Series A to Power the Digital Transformation of Traditional Financial Institutions

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 8, 2025 / Glide, the embedded fintech platform helping traditional financial institutions compete in a digital-first world, today announced a $15 million Series A funding round. The raise was led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Pear VC, Pathlight Capital, and strategic angels including Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe), Paul Williamson (former CRO of Plaid), and Arash Ferdowsi (co-founder of Dropbox).

Banks are facing a turning point. Traditional financial institutions are the cornerstone of financial services in America. However, while they offer trusted financial products, their digital experience falls short. Many banks and credit unions juggle more than 30 separate technology solutions, each running on infrastructure that's nearly half a century old. Meanwhile, Gen Z has come to expect the seamless, instant banking experiences offered by neobanks. Glide helps them evolve-or risk being left behind.

"We're building the infrastructure that helps local financial institutions stay competitive in today's marketplace," said Gautam Ajjarapu, co-founder and CEO of Glide. "Our mission is to arm traditional institutions with the modern tools they need to deliver fintech-grade experiences-without losing what makes them special."

Glide's first product, Deposit Origination, reduces new account opening time from 20 minutes to under 3, and boosts onboarding conversion by 3x. It's also self configurable, supports all account types, and integrates seamlessly into the financial institution's existing systems. Glide replaces vendor sprawl with a single intelligent layer-ushering in the rebundling era of banking infrastructure.

This isn't theory. In its first 12 months since launch, Glide signed 15 credit unions to multi-year contracts-all through founder-led sales.

"Thanks to Glide, we've reduced application times and improved our ability to serve members quickly and effectively," said Elizabeth Thornton, VP of Member Experience at Gulf Coast Educators Federal Credit Union. "It's the digital transformation we needed."

The new funding will accelerate Glide's product roadmap, scale its AI capabilities, and expand its world-class team across engineering, product, and go-to-market-learn more about open roles at careers.withglide.com.

As part of an oversubscribed Series A raise, Glide has brought in world-class operators across fintech, enterprise, and SaaS as investors and advisors. Mar Hershenson, Founding Partner at Pear VC, will also join Glide's board.

"Glide has assembled a world-class team and built an industry leading platform that uniquely bridges fintech innovation with traditional banking infrastructure," said Hershenson. "They're transforming an industry long dominated by legacy providers."

ABOUT GLIDE:

Glide is the embedded fintech platform modernizing community banks and credit unions. From account opening and onboarding to lending and agentic staff tooling, Glide helps traditional financial institutions deliver modern, secure, and compliant digital experiences. Backed by Acrew Capital, Pear VC, Pathlight, and fintech leaders from Robinhood, Stripe, Plaid, and Dropbox, Glide is building the OS for the future of banking. Learn more at https://withglide.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT: Nina Pfister, MAG PR at [email protected].

SOURCE: Glide

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(T.Brown--TAG)