+59%

est. 2Y upside i

FinTech

Enterprise-grade banking APIs

Rank

#1417

Sector

Fintech

Est. Liquidity

~4Y

Data Quality

Data: Low

Increase is a genuinely unusual opportunity — a profitable, high-growth fintech infrastructure company that appears to carry minimal preference stack overhang (no public funding rounds), meaning employee common stock is worth far more dollar-for-dollar than at a typical venture-backed peer.

Last updated: May 14, 2026

Bull (35%)+175%

A strategic acquirer — Visa, JPMorgan, Stripe, or a large bank — pays $1–2B for Increase's direct-to-rail infrastructure within 18–30 months, implying a 2–4x return on a likely $300–600M implied grant valuation. Payment volume tripling YoY and FedNow/real-time payments adoption accelerate the strategic urgency for incumbents to acquire rather than build.

Base (40%)+20%

Increase reaches an estimated $30–50M ARR by 2027 on continued profitability and customer growth, but no liquidity event materializes within the 2-year window, leaving equity illiquid and paper gains unrealizable. Common stock appreciates modestly (~20%) as the business compounds, but a job candidate evaluating a 2-year horizon cannot access that value.

Bear (25%)-40%

Growth decelerates sharply as Treasury Prime, Galileo, or bank-native APIs commoditize direct-rail access; one or more anchor customers (Ramp, Digits, CapitalOS) internalize infrastructure or switch. No liquidity event occurs in the 2-year window, and the implied valuation contracts roughly 40% as the fintech infrastructure sector re-rates.

Est. time to liquidity~4.0 years

Preference Stack Risk

low

Funding Intensity

0%

No public funding rounds are disclosed for Increase; if the company is bootstrapped or raised only a minimal seed, there is little to no preferred liquidation preference sitting above common stock — a structurally favorable position for employee equity holders.

Dilution Risk

low

Profitable operations substantially reduce the need for future dilutive equity raises; absent a strategic growth round, current option or RSU holders face minimal near-term dilution.

Secondary Liquidity

none

No secondary market activity, tender offers, or liquidity programs are known for Increase; equity is effectively illiquid until an IPO or acquisition event.

Questions to Ask at the Interview

Strategic questions based on Increase's data — designed to show you've done your homework.

  • 1

    “You connect directly to the Federal Reserve and Visa rails — as card networks and money-center banks invest heavily in their own programmatic APIs, how does Increase stay structurally differentiated beyond first-mover access?”

  • 2

    “Payment volume tripled and deposits grew 4x YoY — can you share what the revenue or ARR looks like, and how concentrated that growth is across anchor customers like Ramp vs. newer, smaller fintech customers?”

  • 3

    “What does the equity structure look like for a new hire at this stage — specifically, what is the current 409A strike price, is there a known 409A valuation or preferred price from any funding round, and has the company considered secondary liquidity or tender offers for employees?”

Community

Valuation Sentiment

Our model estimates +59% upside. What do you think?

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Disclaimer: This analysis is AI-generated and does not constitute financial or career advice. Always conduct your own due diligence.