Augustus raises USD $180 million in Tiger-led round

Augustus has raised USD $180 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global, valuing the company at USD $1 billion.

The funding follows conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a US national bank charter, putting Augustus among a small group of banks to receive that status since 2010.

The New York-based fintech is building what it calls a global dollar bank to give financial institutions outside the United States direct access to dollar accounts and payment rails. It is targeting fintechs and banks in Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Augustus plans to use the new capital to expand services for those customers and continue investing in its proprietary core banking platform, Marble. The platform supports operating and FBO accounts with named virtual accounts, and enables transactions with first and third parties through Swift, ACH, SEPA and stablecoins.

The company is pursuing a model designed to reduce reliance on correspondent banks and other intermediaries that many international financial firms use to access US dollar clearing. That approach has attracted investors including Hummingbird, QED and existing backers, as well as founders from companies such as Nubank, Ramp, Circle and Deel.

Additional backing came from Soma Capital, Road Capital Management, CMT Digital, Brevan Howard Digital and Variant. The investor list also included fintech and technology founders and executives such as David Velez of Nubank, Karim Atiyeh of Ramp, Sean Neville of Circle, Alex Bouaziz of Deel, Victor Cardenas of Slash, Alan Chang of Revolut, Balaji Srinivasan of Coinbase, Farooq Malik of Rain, Gavin Uberti of Etched, Victor Riparbelli of Synthesia, Alexander Rinke of Celonis, Jamie Cox of Fluidstack and Jan Oberhauser of n8n.

Augustus says it is already processing billions for customers, including Kraken. Founded in 2022 by Ferdinand Dabitz, Joshua Becker, Simon Wimmer and Peter Lieck, the company said the latest financing brings total funding raised to USD $210 million.

Charter push

The charter process is central to Augustus' strategy. Conditional approval from the OCC gives it a path to operate as a federally regulated bank built from the ground up, rather than relying on partner banks for underlying infrastructure.

That matters in a market where many fintechs still depend on layered arrangements involving sponsor banks, correspondent banks and middleware providers. Augustus argues that a direct model can give international financial institutions a simpler route to dollar banking services.

In the announcement, Ferdinand Dabitz outlined the company's rationale.

"We started Augustus with a simple thesis: the Dollar is the greatest product in the world but its distribution is fundamentally broken," said Ferdinand Dabitz, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Augustus.

"This financing lets us execute on our mission to provide high-quality dollar access to international fintechs and banks. It's time to dollarize the world," Dabitz said.

President Greg Quarles linked the effort to his experience in traditional banking and regulation. He previously served as a bank chief executive and worked as a senior regulator at the OCC, according to Augustus.

"After three decades in banking, I'll say it plainly: you don't get meaningful innovation by patching legacy infrastructure. You build something new from the foundation up," said Greg Quarles, President of Augustus. "That's what Augustus is: modern, proprietary technology fused with the full capabilities of a federally chartered bank into a single integrated platform. In my entire career, I have not seen anything like it."

Market opening

Augustus is entering a part of the banking market that has changed more slowly than consumer payments or business finance software. Cross-border access to US dollars remains heavily dependent on longstanding correspondent networks, especially for institutions outside major financial centres.

Nigel Morris, Co-Founder of Capital One and Managing Partner at QED Investors, said that gap has left room for a new entrant.

"Correspondent banking is the last remaining part of the bank stack that hasn't been challenged yet by fintechs. Global fintechs and banks have been left either with slow, low-tech incumbent correspondent banks, or middleware fintech providers," said Nigel Morris, Co-Founder of Capital One and Managing Partner at QED Investors. "Augustus solves this by combining cutting-edge technology with a real bank charter, providing international financial institutions with a modern, direct dollar clearing platform."

Augustus also framed its business against a wider geopolitical backdrop, saying Western currency dominance is facing challenges from new payment and settlement efforts elsewhere. It pointed to China's digital yuan and Russia's proposal for BRICS Pay as examples of alternatives being developed outside the traditional dollar-led system.

Its leadership team includes Benjamin Alexander, a former Chief Compliance Officer at Column who also held roles at JPMorgan and HSBC, alongside executives with backgrounds in banking regulation, payments infrastructure, compliance and financial services. Augustus said Marble is designed to support faster settlement times and round-the-clock availability through the use of AI in back-office operations.