When was Cheese founded?

Cheese was founded in 2019 and raised its 1st funding round within a year of its incorporation.

Where is Cheese located?

Cheese is headquartered in Pasadena, United States.

How many employees does Cheese have?

As of Aug 31, 2026, the latest employee count at Cheese is 6.

Is Cheese a funded company?

Cheese is a funded company, having raised a total of $3.6M across 3 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a $***** Seed round, raised on Oct 15, 2019.

When was the latest funding round of Cheese?

Cheese's latest funding was a $***** Seed round on Nov 14, 2023, with participation from 1 investor. Its primary sector is Banking Tech. In United States, the Banking Tech sector has seen $2.11B in funding in 2026 to date.

Where does Cheese rank among its competitors?

Cheese ranks 109th amongst 1625 active competitors, of which 149 are funded. It stands 11th in terms of total funding among its competitors. The most recent competitor to raise funding was Lunar, which secured $54.6M in Jan, 2026.

Who are the top competitors of Cheese?

Cheese's top competitors include Nubank, Chime and Starling Bank. Among them, Lunar secured the most recent funding round in January, 2026.

Cheese - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors

Cheese is a seed company based in Pasadena (United States), founded in 2019 by Ken Lian. It operates as an Internet-first bank for immigrants. Cheese has raised $3.6M in funding from investors like Idealab, Amplify.vc and iFly. The company has 1625 active competitors, including 149 funded and 96 that have exited. Its top competitors include companies like Nubank, Chime and Starling Bank.

Company Details

Cheese is an internet-first bank for immigrants. It offers services such as savings & deposit accounts, prepaid cards for online/offline purchases, money transfers, and more. It also enables direct depositing of paychecks.

Website: earncheese.com
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Key Metrics

Founded Year

2019

Location

Pasadena, United States

Stage

Seed

Total Funding

$3.6M in 3 rounds

Latest Funding Round

Seed, Nov 14, 2023, $*****

Investors

Idealab & 14 more

Ranked

109^th among 1625 active competitors

Employee Count

6 as on Aug 31, 2026

Similar Companies

Chime & 487 more

View Cheese's full profile

Cheese has raised a total funding of $3.6M over 3 rounds. Its first funding round was on Oct 15, 2019. Its latest funding round was a Seed round on Nov 14, 2023 for $*****. 1 investor participated in its latest round. Cheese has 13 institutional investors and 2 angel investors.

Here is the list of recent funding rounds of Cheese:

Date of Funding	Funding Amount	Round Name	Post-Money Valuation	Revenue Multiple	Lead Investors	Other Investors
Nov 14, 2023	1810412	Seed	1107203	6494948	7490788	3964982
Mar 11, 2021	5942619	Seed	7440712	9222471	5021148	Operate & 5 more
Oct 15, 2019	3702283	Seed	2053788	7500962	Idealab & 1 more	4052733

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View details of Cheese's funding rounds and investors

The founders of Cheese is Ken Lian.

Here are the details of Cheese's key team members:

Ken Lian: Founder of Cheese.

View details of Cheese's Founder profiles and Board Members

Cheese's employee count trend

Cheese has 6 employees as of Aug 26. Here is Cheese's employee count trend over the years:

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Top competitors of Cheese include Nubank, Chime and Starling Bank. Here is the list of Top 10 competitors of Cheese, ranked by Tracxn score:

Rank	Company Details	Short Description	Total Funding	Investors	Tracxn Score
1st	Nubank 2013, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Public	Provider of digital banking services, including credit cards and accounts	$2.27B	DST Global, Sequoia Capital & 39 others	89/100
2nd	Chime 2012, San Francisco (United States), Public	Digital bank for individuals	$3.15B	DST Global, Access Industries & 58 others	83/100
3rd	Starling Bank 2014, London (United Kingdom), Series D	Provider of digital banking services including personal and business accounts	$1.01B	Merian Global Investors, Goldman Sachs & 35 others	83/100
4th	Revolut 2015, London (United Kingdom), Series E	Provider of banking solutions for retail customers and businesses	$1.99B	Balderton Capital, TSG Consumer Partners ... & 150 others	82/100
5th	Monzo 2015, United Kingdom, Series I	Provider of digital banking services including accounts savings and credit	$2.37B	Passion Capital, General Catalyst & 66 others	82/100
6th	Dave 2016, Los Angeles (United States), Public	Developer of a mobile banking application offering financial management tools	$63.6M	Norwest, Financial Solutions Lab & 18 others	81/100
7th	Atom bank 2014, Blyth (United Kingdom), Series F	Provider of digital savings accounts mortgages and commercial business loans	$852M	BBVA, Toscafund Asset Management & 18 others	79/100
8th	Green Dot 1999, Pasadena (United States), Acquired	Provider of mobile banking services, debit cards, and related financial products	$109M	Millennium Technology Value Partners, Tenaya Capital ... & 6 others	79/100
9th	N26 2013, Berlin (Germany), Series E	Provider of mobile banking services, including savings, investment, and crypto	$1.72B	Valar Ventures, Allianz X & 50 others	78/100
10th	Lunar 2015, Aarhus (Denmark), Series D	Digital banking platform offering personal and business accounts, cards, savings, investing, and budgeting tools	$649M	Seed Capital, Kinnevik & 26 others	78/100
109th	Cheese 2019, Pasadena (United States), Seed	Internet-first bank for immigrants	$3.6M	Elysium Venture Capital, 75 & Sunny & 13 others	53/100