In June 2023, Bond was acquired by FIS. Bond was valued at approximately $182 million when it last raised funding in 2020, prior to being acquired. The company had raised a total of $42 million across its funding rounds, including a $32 million Series A round led by Coatue Management in July 2020.

Key investors in Bond included Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, Canaan Partners, B Capital Group, and XYZ Ventures, along with notable individual investors such as John Mack (former CEO of Morgan Stanley), Sarah Friar, Steve Frieberg, Ryan Peterson, and Eric Yuan.

Bond provides the technological infrastructure that enables companies to offer financial services without becoming banks themselves. When a company wants to embed banking features into their existing platform—like a retail app wanting to offer branded debit cards or a gig economy platform wanting to provide instant payments to workers—they integrate Bond's APIs into their application.

Behind the scenes, Bond connects these companies with appropriate banking partners that hold the necessary licenses and regulatory framework. For example, a food delivery app could work with Bond to issue branded cards to their delivery drivers for fuel purchases. The app developer integrates Bond's card-issuing APIs, Bond connects them with a suitable bank partner, and drivers receive their cards without the delivery company having to build banking relationships or compliance systems from scratch.

Bond's infrastructure is built around three core banking "primitives": accounts (creating and managing bank accounts), cards (issuing debit and credit cards), and money movement (facilitating transactions like transfers and payments). Unlike competitors that might lock clients into a single banking relationship, Bond's platform works with multiple bank partners, allowing clients to find the right fit for their specific needs.

Beyond just technology, Bond handles critical operational aspects like compliance, KYC (Know Your Customer), and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements. This means clients don't need to build specialized compliance teams or become regulatory experts, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for offering financial products.

Bond operates a B2B2C model that creates a bridge between three key stakeholders: companies wanting to offer financial products (brands), banking partners with the necessary licenses, and end-users who utilize these financial services.

The platform monetizes through several revenue streams: one-time implementation fees during onboarding, ongoing subscription fees based on client size and needs, per-transaction fees, and a share of interchange revenue when end-users make card purchases.

Bond differentiated itself through an enterprise-grade, multi-vendor approach that offered flexibility to clients. Unlike some competitors that might tie clients to a single banking relationship or processor, Bond built an agnostic platform working with multiple bank partners and technology vendors, creating more options for matching clients with appropriate partners.

The company focused on program management, handling the entire operation for clients including compliance and regulatory requirements. This was managed by an experienced team led by professionals with backgrounds at companies like Affirm and Celtic Bank, creating a competitive edge through depth of financial services expertise.

Bond's strategy emphasized complex banking functions like credit issuance rather than just basic services like payments. This created higher barriers to entry and stickier customer relationships, as credit solutions generate approximately two times more interchange revenue than debit products while requiring more sophisticated infrastructure.

Following acquisition by FIS, Bond became part of the Atelio platform, strengthening its enterprise focus and positioning the combined entity to leverage FIS's established banking relationships and infrastructure.

Bond competed directly with other comprehensive banking-as-a-service providers offering end-to-end solutions. Unit positioned itself as a developer-first platform with strong documentation and streamlined onboarding.

Synctera differentiated through its "Ground Control" program designed to help developers build more quickly, while also focusing on connecting community banks with fintech companies. Treasury Prime emphasized deep technology integration with partner banks including Ametros, Brex, and Max My Interest.

Synapse, one of the earlier players in the space, provided API-driven banking infrastructure focusing on deposit, payment, and credit products. Productfy aimed to provide the widest range of different services in a one-stop platform.

A significant competitive segment included specialized card issuing platforms that focused on narrower aspects of the financial stack rather than providing comprehensive BaaS solutions.

Established players like Marqeta ($12B valuation), Galileo (acquired by SoFi), and Stripe Issue became dominant forces in enterprise card issuing. Marqeta, with its eight-year head start and proven reliability at scale supporting Square's Cash App, gained particular advantage in offering better economics due to its transaction volume ($60B annually).

Newer entrants like Lithic (formerly Privacy.com) and Highnote targeted the long tail of developers rather than pursuing enterprise sales, with more developer-friendly interfaces and self-serve options.

The competitive landscape also included established financial players adapting to fintech disruption. Traditional banks began offering their own BaaS solutions, leveraging existing licenses and infrastructure.

Legacy payment processors like Jack Henry, TSYS, and First Data (Fiserv) still handled the majority of payment processing volume, though they typically lacked the developer-friendly interfaces and agility of newer BaaS providers. These established players benefited from extensive banking relationships and regulatory expertise but often struggled with the technological agility and integration capabilities of dedicated BaaS platforms.

As the BaaS market matured, vertical integration became a competitive threat, with banks potentially developing more user-friendly interfaces that could disintermediate platforms like Bond.

Bond identified significant opportunity in the vertical SaaS market, shifting strategy to "double down" on this segment following its acquisition by FIS. Vertical SaaS companies serving industries like healthcare, real estate, and professional services represent a massive untapped market for embedded finance.

These software providers have already solved industry-specific workflows and possess established customer relationships, making financial services a natural extension.

Roy Ng noted that vertical SaaS platforms benefit from having "a great business already in a particular area" and can "add embedded finance to participate in the money movement that's part of those workflows" – creating additional revenue streams without fundamentally changing their business model.

Under FIS, Bond strategically repositioned to target larger enterprise clients rather than early-stage startups. While fintech startups initially drove growth in the BaaS market, large enterprises now represent a significant expansion opportunity.

Unlike startups with uncertain revenue trajectories, established enterprises have stable operations, large customer bases, and the resources to successfully deploy financial products. Enterprises can leverage embedded finance both for new revenue streams and to gain valuable customer insights.

As Roy Ng explained, "For the largest brands in the world offering embedded finance... the real value is gaining better insights into their customers, providing them with a 360 view of their customer's behavior." This enterprise focus could significantly expand Bond's addressable market beyond traditional fintechs.

Bond's initial focus was primarily on card issuing and basic banking services, but the platform was architected to support a much broader range of financial products as clients mature. Lending represents a natural extension, particularly given how data can enhance lending decisions.

As Roy Ng noted, companies with merchant data can follow Square Capital's model: "The fact that they have a lot of the merchant acquiring data... they can say, 'This merchant is doing quite well from a receipts perspective. This may be a merchant for us to lend capital to.'"

Beyond lending, Bond could expand into wealth management, robo-advisory, and insurance products, creating more comprehensive financial solutions for clients. This product expansion approach parallels the evolution seen in successful fintech platforms that start with one core offering before extending into adjacent financial services.

Bank partner dependency: Despite working with multiple banking partners, Bond remains dependent on these relationships for critical banking licenses and regulatory coverage. Changes in regulatory stance toward banking-as-a-service models or shifts in bank partner strategies could significantly disrupt Bond's business model and impair its ability to serve clients effectively.

Integration challenges: Following acquisition by FIS in 2023, Bond faces risks associated with integration into the larger Atelio platform. The FIS internal memo mentioned "determining how the two companies will work together," indicating potential uncertainty in the integration process. Cultural differences, technology integration issues, or strategic misalignments could impact Bond's operations and growth trajectory within the FIS ecosystem.

Regulatory uncertainty: The banking-as-a-service model exists in a complex and evolving regulatory landscape where changes could fundamentally alter business economics. Financial regulators are increasingly scrutinizing relationships between fintechs and banks, particularly around issues like "regulatory arbitrage" involving the Durbin Amendment interchange exemption for smaller banks. As Roy Ng acknowledged, "Even the regulators are now spending more time taking a look at what are the right relationships between a fintech and a financial institution."