Existing investors double down as 22nd State Banking Company joins the round, validating Linker’s role as The Growth Engine for Community Banks and helping community banks grow deposits, streamline onboarding and launch modern retail and business banking experiences.
PASADENA, Calif., July 14, 2026 — Linker Finance, a modular platform purpose-built for community banks, today announced it has secured an additional $5 million in Seed funding, bringing its total Seed funding to $8.7 million following its previously announced $3.7 million round. The financing will accelerate Linker Finance’s next stage of growth and includes continued participation from existing investors, including Chingona Ventures, Ten One Ten Ventures, Audaz Capital and Angeles Investors, alongside new strategic investment from 22nd State Banking Company.
The investment reflects Linker Finance’s continued growth, with the company now Live with more than 10 customers across multiple cores, including Fiserv Premier, CSI, FIS and soon DCI. Linker’s turnkey and best-of-breed approach has enabled community banks to launch faster, expand capabilities and go live with customers in as little as eight weeks, transforming implementations that once took years into a faster, more scalable path to market. The momentum also reflects growing demand from community banks for modern digital infrastructure that helps them compete, grow and serve customers without requiring a core conversion. Linker Finance is the growth engine for community banks, providing a unified platform that helps institutions grow deposits, launch digital account opening and digital banking experiences, streamline business onboarding, expand business banking capabilities and deliver fully branded mobile and online experiences for retail and commercial customers.
“Community banks’ growth has historically been limited by fragmentation, legacy infrastructure and access to specialized digital growth know-how, resulting in subpar customer experiences, complex operations and multi-year timelines,” said Jorge Garcia, CEO and Co-Founder of Linker Finance. “Over the last two years, we have proven that with the right product, technology and playbooks, community banks can consistently and predictably grow their balance sheet using Linker. This round gives us additional fuel to keep building the growth engine community banks need. We are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors and especially excited to welcome 22nd State Banking Company as a strategic bank investor. Their participation validates the value we are bringing to the community banking ecosystem.”
“Community banks carry an outsized share of the country’s most important lending, built through real relationships. Linker Finance gives them technology that matches that trust. Jorge and his team have continued to impress us with their execution since we originally invested. In addition, having a bank like 22nd State Banking Company join this round is the clearest validation there is. The people closest to the problem are betting on the solution” said Samara Mejia Hernandez, Founding Partner at Chingona Ventures.
The new funding will support Linker Finance’s continued product development across retail banking, business onboarding and business banking, while accelerating investment in its proprietary Agentic AI Customer Intelligence layer and expanding its multi-rail payments infrastructure, including cross-border and stablecoin-enabled capabilities.
Linker Finance is also introducing Grandir, an emerging Agentic AI layer built for the workflows and guardrails that community banks require. Grandir is designed to help banks better understand customer needs, identify growth opportunities, reduce manual work, and support relationship-driven banking at scale. The company is currently piloting Grandir with existing customers and expects to share more details in the coming months.
“Delivering modern digital experiences while preserving trust and relationship-driven service is one of the biggest challenges we face as community bankers,” said Steve Smith, Vice Chairman, President and CEO of 22nd State Banking Company. “Always.bank, a division of 22nd State Banking Company, was built on the belief that customers should not have to choose between digital access and real human support. Linker Finance gives community banks the growth engine they need to compete at scale, expand beyond geography, and deliver modern relationship banking without losing what makes them trusted.”
Since announcing its initial seed round, Linker Finance has expanded its product footprint and strategic partnerships across the community banking ecosystem. The company is focused on powering the 20x relationship-based community bank by bringing fintech-grade capabilities to community institutions without the cost, complexity or vendor fragmentation that has historically made those tools difficult to access. Linker’s platform supports deposit account opening, commercial onboarding, treasury and payments functionality, Customer Intelligence tools for bankers and back-office teams, and white-label digital banking experiences, while integrating with leading core providers and a broad ecosystem of third-party services for automated KYC/KYB, fraud detection, payments, analytics, and customer engagement.
“This is not just about adding digital tools,” Garcia added. “It is about giving community banks the infrastructure to grow deposits, deepen customer relationships, and launch new products with speed and confidence. Our mission is to help community banks compete in a digital-first world while preserving the trust and relationship-driven service that makes them essential. Our vision is powering the 20x Relationship-based Community Bank using the right combination of Technology, Playbooks, and Human touch.”
About Linker Finance
Linker Finance is the Growth Engine for Community Banks, a modular platform that helps community banks grow deposits, deepen relationships, streamline onboarding, and deliver modern retail and business banking experiences. The Unified Platform includes deposit account opening, business onboarding workflows, Agentic AI, CRM tools, payments and treasury capabilities, fraud and identity integrations, and white-label mobile and online customer experiences. For more information, visit https://www.linkerfinance.com.
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