The fintech company that changed its direction due to Kanye West has achieved a valuation of $1.4 billion.

      Slash, the vertical banking platform created by two college dropouts, has secured a $100 million Series C funding round led by Khosla Ventures and Ribbit Capital. The company's valuation has nearly increased fourfold since its May 2025 Series B, marking a significant recovery following a dramatic decline in its primary market.

      Based in San Francisco, Slash raised $100 million in its Series C round at a valuation of $1.4 billion, as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday. This funding represents a rapid growth in the company's journey: less than a year prior, Slash completed its Series B with a valuation of $370 million, meaning the new round values the company at almost four times that amount.

      Founded by Victor Cardenas, who dropped out of Stanford, and Kevin Bai, a former student of the University of Waterloo, Slash has an intriguing backstory in the fintech space. Initially, they provided banking services for sneaker resellers, a niche that quickly gained traction.

      However, in late 2022, Kanye West made several antisemitic remarks, leading Adidas to end its partnership with him, which devastated the Yeezy market that was crucial to the sneaker reselling industry. Cardenas stated that Slash’s revenue plummeted by 80% practically overnight. Despite having raised $19 million and established a team around a suddenly vanished market, the founders chose not to give up.

      Instead, Cardenas and Bai shifted their focus to a wider concept: vertical banking for online businesses. Rather than compete broadly with platforms like Ramp, Mercury, and Brex—companies servicing a variety of sectors—Slash concentrates on creating tailored financial products for specific industries.

      Their first post-pivot target was performance marketing firms that manage digital advertising campaigns for e-commerce businesses. These agencies faced a significant challenge: they needed separate banking accounts for each client to monitor prepayment and expenses distinctly. Slash provided a solution. By the time it announced its Series B in May 2025, Cardenas noted that more than 1% of all Facebook ads were purchased using a Slash-issued card.

      The pivot proved successful. Slash now caters to various verticals, including web3, e-commerce, agencies, contractors, affiliate marketers, healthcare providers, online travel agencies, and wholesalers, in addition to offering stablecoin payments and treasury and working capital solutions.

      The product range has greatly expanded from its initial offering of virtual debit cards for teenagers. Current services include corporate cards, business banking, stablecoin payments, treasury management, working capital solutions, global USD accounts, invoicing, and a platform that supports multi-entity operations, accounting integration, expense management, global payments, APIs, analytics, and AI agents.

      The platform is built on Column, a chartered bank co-founded by a Plaid executive, specifically designed to support tech-savvy fintech companies. Cardenas has credited this partnership with assisting Slash in navigating the challenges faced by the fintech middleware sector, especially after Synapse, a major banking-as-a-service provider, collapsed.

      Khosla Ventures has a history of successful early investments in fintech, having backed companies like Stripe, Affirm, and Ramp. Ribbit Capital focuses solely on financial services and has invested in Robinhood, Coinbase, and Credit Karma. Their participation in this funding round indicates a strong belief that Slash's vertical approach, succeeding in various niches rather than competing in a broad market, can lead to substantial growth.

      In the Series B announcement, Cardenas expressed a long-term vision: “If we keep addressing these specific financial workflows for businesses in diverse industries, we can quietly become one of the largest commercial credit card issuers in the country.”