First Internet Bank of Indiana, a 15-month-old Internet-based financial institution with customers across the country, today announced that it has raised $30 million in a second-round private placement. The financing includes a previously announced commitment of $12 million from Newcourt Financial and an additional $18 million from private individuals, corporations and investment funds.
Placement for the round was led by Robertson Stephens , the leading full-service investment bank focused exclusively on growth companies, with assistance from OffRoad Capital, the first private capital marketplace on the Internet. The new funds will be used to meet general capital requirements needed to support the bank’s rapid growth.
“The size and success of our second-round funding is a tribute to the strength of our business plan and our ability to attract $165 million in assets in little more than a year,” said David B. Becker, Chairman and CEO of First IB. “Coupled with the high rankings we have received from both Gomez Advisors and SmartMoney, these factors have given investors confidence in the staying power of our Internet-only banking model.”
First IB is the first state-chartered, FDIC-insured institution to operate exclusively via the Internet. It draws customers from all 50 states as well as U.S. territories and military bases, delivers the most comprehensive suite of banking services on the Web, and offers a variety of advantages over traditional retail banks. These include industry-leading interest rates, real-time processing of all transactions, the ability to transfer funds in real time between accounts, and the ability to display up-to-the-minute checking, savings and loan information on a single screen.
Services include a free interest-bearing checking account with free electronic bill payment, regular and money market savings accounts, CDs, IRAs, credit cards, and check cards that can be used instead of cash or checks. In addition, First IB offers a full range of personal loans, including mortgages and home equity loans through an affiliation with The CIT Group/Consumer Finance, Inc., as well as personal lines of credit and installment loans.
Last November, the bank announced a $12 million investment from Newcourt Financial, the commercial finance business of Newcourt Credit Group. Shortly thereafter, Robert J. Hicks, Executive Vice President of Strategic Development at Newcourt, was appointed to the bank’s board of directors. Newcourt was later acquired by The CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), the largest publicly owned company in the commercial finance industry.