CNBC
Digital banks like Chime and Square’s Cash App have added millions of users by offering streamlined, mobile-first accounts without the pesky fees associated with brick-and-mortar banks.
To that list of disruptors, add the New York-based start-up Current.
Current, founded in 2015 by former Wall Street trader Stuart Sopp, has offered fee-free mobile checking accounts since the start of last year. It has seen customer growth surge during the coronavirus pandemic, adding more than 100,000 users a month in April and May, Sopp said in a telephone interview. The company recently exceeded 1 million active accounts and expects to double in size this year, he said.
That’s because Current has taken off with the essential workers who “have kept this country going” during the pandemic, Sopp said.
“Everyone who was tagged as an essential worker happens to fit our profile, just by dumb luck,” he added. “They work at Walmart or Amazon, they’re Door Dash-ers, Instacart-ers, Uber and Lyft drivers, UPS workers, nurses or military. Our growth in the last two months has been insane.”
