MyBambu served Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. It warned in a state filing of as many as 141 layoffs if it can’t find the money to stay open.
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WEST PALM BEACH — MyBambu, a fintech company that serves Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. and employs over 140 people in West Palm Beach, said late on Nov. 5 that it is raising money to stay in business.
A spokesperson said its 35,000-square-foot headquarters on South Dixie Highway remains open and that it continues to serve its clients. MyBambu offers national and international money transfer services, debit card banking and insurance.
The company moved to West Palm Beach from Memphis in 2021 to be part of the city’s burgeoning “Wall Street South” business community.
“MyBambu remains focused on building a stronger future, empowering more people, and continuing to deliver financial solutions that make a lasting difference in our communities,” the company said in its prepared statement.
In an Oct. 31 state government filing, CEO Douglas Quay reported that MyBambu would be “permanently ending its operations” by December 2025 after losing its main source of funding. The move would mean the layoffs of 141 employees.
In the Nov. 5 statement, however, MyBambu said it filed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) to outline “a potential wind-down of operations should emergency fundraising efforts not be finalized.”
“While this filing fulfills legal notice requirements, MyBambu continues to operate and is actively pursuing its Series E funding round to sustain and expand our mission,” MyBambu wrote.
Series E funding is what companies that have grown seek from venture capital firms when they are preparing to offer stock or to acquire other companies.
“At this time, MyBambu continues to operate with an active team of more than 100 employees and remains focused on expanding services, strengthening our technology platform, and supporting the Hispanic community that depends on us,” its statement said.
MyBambu’s goal: Serve the ‘underserved’ and the ‘unbanked’
MyBambu opened its offices at The Press building — the longtime home of The Palm Beach Post — at South Dixie and Belvedere Road to fanfare in July. Both West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James and Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Marino appeared at the ribbon-cutting.
At the time, it said it hoped to grow to as many as 350 employees. Its leaders said Hispanics are underserved in financial services — describing many as “unbanked” —and that they believed their market is going to grow significantly in the next few years.
One speaker said at that time that My Bambu opened 30,000 bank accounts and moved more than $90 million into them in the past several months.
Quay said in the Oct. 31 filing that the company has recently doubled-down on raising money to replace the lost funding but chose to begin an “orderly wind-down” of operations after analyzing its resources.
“MyBambu is providing this notice as soon as practicable after unexpectedly learning that the main and historical source of funding for MyBambu’s operations would end, depriving MyBambu of funding necessary for running its operations and necessitating the commencement of an orderly wind-down,” Quay wrote in the Oct. 31 state filling.
The filing did not specify the source of that money.
The Post newsroom remains at The Press building, along with other businesses including SROA Capital. Florida State University also leases space in the building for graduate-school-level seminars.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.