Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc. Completes $116 Million Private Placement Offering And Grasshopper Bank, N.A. Opens For Business

NEW YORK, May 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company"), the parent bank holding company of Grasshopper Bank, N.A. (the "Bank"), a newly chartered national bank, announced today the successful completion of its private placement offering and the receipt of all final regulatory approvals for the Bank to open for business.

The Company raised approximately $116.2 million in its private placement offering, which followed an earlier seed round offering in which it raised $15 million in connection with the organization of the Bank.   At a combined capital raise of more than $131 million, this is believed to be the largest capital raise for a start-up bank in the United States.

Grasshopper Bank becomes the first bank chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the Northeast in over ten years, the ninth bank to receive a charter since the 2008 financial crisis, and the first commercial bank that plans to fully utilize digital banking in the commercial banking space.

Grasshopper Bank, which will serve New York's innovation economy companies and its thriving venture capital community as well as companies and communities in other major innovation economy centers in the United States, opened for business on May 13, 2019 to a select group of entrepreneurs and venture investors, with a broader rollout of its services planned in the coming months.  Grasshopper Bank is one of a limited number of commercial banks focused on the innovation economy as its primary market.  Grasshopper brings to this market a state-of-the-art delivery platform that aims to surpass the types of delivery systems utilized by existing banks serving its target market.

"With the approval of our national charter, Grasshopper is poised to deliver banking services custom-designed for today's entrepreneurial companies and their venture capital backers," said Judith Erwin, Chief Executive Officer of Grasshopper Bank.

"Traditional banks, limited by antiquated and burdensome legacy systems, are less equipped to meet the needs of early stage companies," Erwin said.  "Their business models and infrastructure do not position them to provide products and services for today's digital entrepreneur at affordable prices, or to take advantage of new technologies around data, security, and user-friendly access.  In contrast, Grasshopper Bank will act as a partner with entrepreneurial companies, delivering digitally-driven, streamlined services that give management teams more efficient command of day-to-day financial operations."

The leadership team brings together executives with extensive banking, venture capital, and technology expertise.  Erwin was Founding Executive Vice President of Venture Capital Services at Square 1 Bank, from its de novo launch in 2005 to its IPO in 2014, and its ultimate sale in 2015 to Pacific Western Bancorp.   Her 35-year career in banking includes leadership roles at Comerica, Imperial Bank, and Plaza Bank of Commerce.

Grasshopper Bank CFO Sangeeta Kishore is former Executive Vice President and CFO of Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Minerva Tantoco has held senior positions at UBS, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, and served as the first Chief Technology Officer of the City of New York. Albert Sun, Chief Credit Officer, was most recently the CCO for East West Bank, a $40B California-based commercial bank. Chief Risk Officer, Sally Myers, has extensive CRO experience, most recently with Plaza Bank. Gary Blumenthal, COO, has held senior positions at UBS and Morgan Stanley.

Lead investors in the Company's private placement offering included Patriot Financial Partners III, L.P., funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Endeavour Capital Advisors, Inc., funds managed and advised by FJ Capital Management LLC, and Hamilton Lane Advisors, on behalf of New York State Common Retirement Fund

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company and Seapower Carpenter Capital, Inc. acted as co-placement agents for the offering and financial advisors to Grasshopper. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP acted as legal counsel for Grasshopper in connection with the bank charter and the offering.  Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP acted as legal counsel for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods as placement agent.

About Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc.

Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc. is a Delaware chartered corporation and the bank holding company of Grasshopper Bank, N.A.  The Bank is a national bank offering a full array of commercial banking products to innovation economy companies and the venture capital firms that fund such companies.   Based in New York City, the second largest venture capital funding center in the U.S., Grasshopper Bank delivers cloud-based banking solutions and financial services that enable the leadership of innovative, emerging, and established companies more efficiently address the day-to-day challenges of their financial operations.

Important Information

This release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on assumptions and may describe future plans, strategies and expectations of Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "project" "plan" or similar expressions.  Our ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements,  include, but are not limited to: changes in market interest rates, regional and national economic conditions, changes in the level of venture capital funding of innovation economy companies, changes in the level of funding of venture firms and private equity firms, legislative and regulatory changes, monetary and fiscal policies of the United States government, including policies of the United States Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board, operational, liquidity and credit risks associated with our business, competition, demand for financial services in the our market area, and changes in relevant accounting principles and guidelines. These risks and uncertainties should be considered in evaluating any forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements.   Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments of otherwise.

Contact:
RF|Binder
Davis MacMillan
[email protected]

SOURCE Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc.