Grasshopper launches AI-based treasury investment service

• Key insight: Grasshopper Bank is now offering Waldo's treasury investment services, including an AI advisor, to some of its business customers.
• What's at stake: The bank is joining several other big names in adding AI-powered recommendations to its user-facing services.
• Forward look: Grasshopper is also awaiting approval for a deal to be acquired by Enova by the end of this year.

Grasshopper Bank has launched a new AI-powered treasury management offering.

The New York City-based digital-only bank announced its treasury investing launch, developed in partnership with corporate robo-adviser Waldo, on Tuesday. The offering seeks to help Grasshopper's business banking clients access treasury portfolios through the bank's digital platform directly. 

The treasury investment service also connects Grasshopper users to Waldo's AI Advisor, an AI-powered robo-adviser designed for automated insights and investment advice.

The announcement comes as banks are incorporating AI recommendations in some client-facing apps. For instance, Bank of America's Erica and Wells Fargo's Fargo provide recommendations for tracking spending and banking. Such virtual assistants are less common in business banking.

Grasshopper Bank is also awaiting regulatory approval to sell itself to Enova, a lending fintech with roots in payday lending. The deal was originally announced in December 2025, and the two companies hope to close the acquisition in the second half of this year.

However, consumer advocates have pushed regulators to reject the deal, or impose restrictions as part of an approval, due to concerns about Enova potentially dodging caps on interest rates for its loans. The $1.6 billion-asset Grasshopper has a federal bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, so state interest-rate caps wouldn't apply to its loans should the deal close without additional restrictions.

Rob Burnett, director of startup banking at Grasshopper, told American Banker that Grasshopper continues to operate as an independent company while the transaction with Enova moves through the customary approval process, and the treasury product had been in development for some time before the acquisition deal was originally announced.

"We met the Waldo team in the middle of 2025 and were impressed with what they built for modern businesses," Burnett said.

Grasshopper business customers will need to meet various eligibility requirements to use the new treasury investing service, including a $250,000 minimum balance to access the treasury system, but no minimum is required for the investment products themselves. Grasshopper Treasury is currently available via waitlist to enterprise users.

"Fast-growing companies need treasury solutions that are flexible, accessible and built around the way they actually manage cash," Burnett said. "Through our partnership with Waldo, we are giving clients a smarter way to put idle cash to work while maintaining the liquidity and control they need to run and grow their businesses."

Waldo, an SEC-registered investment advising company, provides access to a variety of treasury portfolios with same-day withdrawals and target yields of up to 5% (assuming an account value over $10 million and an associated 0.1% management fee, according to the service's terms and conditions). The robo-advisor holds its assets via the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation and is backed by $75 million of extended Securities Investor Protection Corporation coverage, according to the company.

In 2019, Grasshopper became the first de novo bank chartered by the OCC in the Northeast since the 2008 financial crisis. Grasshopper specializes in banking for small businesses, startups and venture capital firms; Small Business Administration and commercial real estate lending; and banking-as-a-service.

The treasury management offering is a completely new product for Grasshopper, according to Burnett.

"Previously, we supported our clients with high-yield checking and savings accounts," he said. "While those products are great for foundational banking, clients looking for more sophisticated treasury management or yield optimization have to outsource those needs to third-party providers. Grasshopper Treasury brings those advanced tools directly into our existing digital banking experience."

Grasshopper also acquired Michigan-based federal savings bank Auto Club Trust last spring to expand into retail banking and gain a new source of deposits through a pool of 13.8 million American Automobile Association customers in 13 states. Later in 2025, the bank fundraised $46.6 million to support the ACT acquisition.