Green Dot

The Green Dot corporation was founded in 1999 by Steve Streit. Green Dot was formerly known as Next Estate Communications. The first debit card to be sold was I-GEN in the year 2000. It was geared toward teenagers and Internet users. In 2001 the first I-GEN MasterCard was sold at a Rite Aid in Virginia. In 2002 the first Green Dot debit cards were sold at more Rite Aid stores as well as CVS Pharmacy, and Pantry Convenience stores. In 2003, the I-GEN card was sold in over 18,000 stores nationwide and geared toward adults. In the year 2004, I-GEN officially changed its name to Green Dot and started the first cash-accepting network for reloading the debit cards. By May 2006, Green Dot sold more than two million cards nationwide and opened more retailers to issue more cards internationally.On July 22, 2010, Green Dot Corporation went public and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker: GDOT

In early 2012, Green Dot acquired the mobile location technology company, Loopt, for $43.4 million. Green Dot retained all of the employees of Loopt, which became the team to design and build Green Dot's mobile checking account brand, GoBank.

In 2013, with the acquisition of Loopt’s technology and workforce, Green Dot developed GoBank, the first bank account designed to be opened and used from a mobile device. In 2016 GoBank, became the platform that was used by Uber, the ride share company, as the principal payment processor of the company’s drivers. Green Dot regards this as their pivot from a prepaid debit card company into a platform company.

In 2014 Green Dot Corporation acquired Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, the largest tax refund processor in America.

Green Dot continued its acquisition of competitive companies in 2015, that offered either a customer base or platform with its acquisition with its purchase of both the Account Now Inc., and Achieve Card.

On September 24, 2014, Walmart announced it would be partnering with Green Dot Bank to begin offering Walmart customers checking accounts. The accounts will be provided through GoBank, Green Dot’s mobile checking serviceIn 2016, Green Dot Corporation’s brand, GoBank, partnered with Uber to launch the ‘Uber Debit Card’ – a checking account for Uber drivers to cash out their ride fare immediately.

On January 30, 2017, it was reported that UniRush LLC would be sold to Green Dot Corp. in a deal valued around $147 million. The deal, to close at the end of the quarter, was said to add around 750,000 cardholders to Green Dot's network.In early December 2017, Green Dot Corporation announced that it was powering the Apple's new Apple Pay Cash P2P payment service.

On May 7, 2021, CNBC reported that "Green Dot, a fintech firm and biggest U.S. provider of prepaid debit cards, is moving its headquarters from Pasadena, California to Austin, Texas "

Awards

Steve Streit, CEO, was nominated for Industry Executive of the Year at LendIt.Green Dot was nominated for Solving Problems Through Payments during the 2018 Benzinga Fintech Awards.