Grasshopper and MANTL Team to Close Loan Market ‘Tech Gap’

Digital bank Grasshopper has teamed with MANTL to provide clients with faster onboarding.

The bank said in a Thursday (Jan. 26) news release that the partnership will see Grasshopper leverage MANTL’s commercial deposit origination solution “to strengthen its digital deposit origination platform for businesses and provide a superior customer experience.”

In addition, Grasshopper and MANTL are working together to build an automated, online business loan origination solution, according to the release.

“After evaluating the loan solutions on the market today, including technology vendors that offer both loan and deposit origination, Grasshopper Bank decided to also partner with MANTL to build a new digital business loan origination solution from the ground up,” the release stated.

Expected to launch in the second half of the year, the offering will expand MANTL’s product suite and address “a critical technology gap” in the loans market, per the release.

Grasshopper President and CEO Mike Butler said in the release that the collaboration “will deliver a fast, frictionless onboarding experience while helping the bank lower deposit acquisition costs” as it moves deeper into the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) market.

Butler became head of the bank last year amid a relaunch that saw Grasshopper move its focus to SMBs.

“The past two years have underscored the fact that the small business market has been traditionally underserved by banks, causing many business owners to seek digital solutions to fit their needs — a trend that will continue beyond the pandemic,” he said at the time. “As serving small businesses is core to our business, and with our leadership and technology, we are uniquely positioned to solve this problem.”

MANTL Co-founder and CEO Nathaniel Harley said in the release the partnership will help the FinTech achieve its “vision of providing ‘one digital front door’ for banks and credit unions.”

The company expanded into the credit union space last year.

“Credit unions are renowned for delivering white-glove member experiences, and it’s important in today’s digital-first banking landscape to ensure that curated experience extends to digital channels,” Harley said at the time.

However, research by PYMNTS showed that some credit unions are passing on the opportunity to appeal to digital-first borrowers, even among those that think of themselves as “early launchers.”

“This oversight by some credit unions could sharply limit their attempts to appeal to millennials, who overwhelmingly cite convenience and ease of use as primary drivers when choosing financial institutions,” PYMNTS wrote last week. “At a possible lower cost of uptake and implementation than other customer loyalty offerings, tools to simplify mortgage and other loan applications may be particularly poised to draw in long-term (or even lifelong) customers in this demographic.”