Valley National Bancorp has agreed to buy Jersey City-based Bluevine for $340 million, picking up a digital small-business banking platform that serves about 175,000 customers and adds $2.1 billion in low-cost, digitally sourced deposits to the bank's books. The deal also brings roughly 180 research, development and engineering professionals into Valley's fold, along with Bluevine's co-founder and chief executive, Eyal Lifshitz, who is expected to take over as Valley's head of small-business banking once the transaction closes.
Bluevine’s roots predate its banking platform: co-founders Eyal Lifshitz and Nir Klar started the company in 2013, and its first product was invoice factoring. It added a line of credit in 2016, launched business checking in 2020 and moved its headquarters to Jersey City in January 2023. The company’s growth metrics cover different populations: it says it had 175,000 active small-business customers as of June 2026, while also reporting more than 1 million lifetime customers, $2 billion in managed deposits and $17 billion in loans delivered.
According to ROI-NJ, the transaction consists of about 75% cash and 25% Valley common stock, and it is expected to close in early 2027. Valley says the acquisition aligns with its priorities of strengthening its funding base, growing its small-business franchise and speeding up its digital and artificial-intelligence strategy. Bluevine, founded in 2013, offers integrated banking, payments, lending and financial-management tools for small businesses nationwide, and roughly 99% of its deposits come from non-borrowing customers.
Bluevine is a fintech, not a bank: its banking services are provided by Coastal Community Bank and program banks. The distinction matters for deposit protection: the FDIC says pass-through insurance for funds held at an insured bank through a third party depends on specific requirements being met. In July 2024, federal banking agencies also outlined risks and risk-management practices for banks’ third-party arrangements, including arrangements used to deliver deposit products.
What Valley Gets From the Deal
The deal is expected to be about 8% accretive to Valley's estimated 2028 earnings per share, with roughly 5% tangible book value dilution at closing and an estimated earn-back period of approximately three years, per the same report. Valley also stands to gain a nationwide digital acquisition channel that layers onto its relationship-led banking model, plus a foundation the company says will give it greater control over customer experience and faster delivery of new products. Bluevine's platform-generated deposits grew at roughly a 35% compound annual growth rate from 2023 through the second quarter of 2026.
Valley Chairman, President and CEO Ira Robbins said the acquisition advances the bank's strategic priorities and is expected to enhance core funding, add a small-business growth platform and accelerate its digital and AI capabilities. Bluevine will also contribute engineering, product, data science and AI talent to Valley's technology strategy, which the bank has said includes building out more internal capabilities and relying less on third-party software and service providers. Bluevine's roughly 180 R&D and engineering staffers are primarily based in Redwood City, California; Jersey City; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Customers on Both Sides Get New Options
Bluevine customers will gain access to Valley's branch network of about 220 offices, along with treasury management, credit, insurance, wealth and capital markets services they didn't previously have through the fintech alone. In turn, Valley's existing small-business customers will be able to tap Bluevine's digital tools for business checking, payments, bill pay, invoicing, lending and financial management. Bluevine and Valley intend to grow the combined deposit base over time rather than treat the $2.1 billion as a one-time infusion.
Valley’s purchase would bring the platform inside a bank with a much longer history: Valley National Bank was founded in 1927 and, at the time of the announcement, reported more than $66 billion in assets and over 220 branches and commercial offices across eight states. The proposed deal is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, so the planned combination—and any change to how Bluevine’s banking services are delivered—remains contingent on closing.
Lifshitz, Bluevine's co-founder and CEO, said the combination with Valley will let both companies expand their impact while preserving Bluevine's technology, customer focus and entrepreneurial culture. He is expected to join Valley as head of small-business banking once the deal closes, bringing the leadership of the platform he built directly into the acquiring bank's management structure.
Second Deal in Two Months for Valley
The Bluevine purchase marks Valley National's second announced acquisition in recent months. The bank agreed last month to buy South Holland, Illinois-based Providence Financial Corp. for $247 million, a deal that is scheduled to close in early 2027 — around the same time frame targeted for the Bluevine transaction to wrap up.
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is serving as financial adviser to Valley, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as its legal counsel. Financial Technology Partners acted as exclusive adviser to Bluevine and its board in the sale, with Sidley Austin LLP serving as Bluevine's legal counsel. Shares of Valley stock opened Monday at $12.82 and were trading down 27 cents, or about 1.99%, with more than 6.5 million shares changing hands — well above the stock's daily average trading volume of nearly 507,000 shares.
