Green Banking: An Interview with Ravi Mikkelsen, founder of Atmos
Banking for customers focused on sustainability
For this edition of the Fintech Explorer, I interviewed Ravi Mikkelsen, co-founder of Atmos, a neobank focused on sustainability. The neat idea behind Atmos is to leverage their deposits to make loans for climate-based infrastructure. We discussed Ravi’s entrepreneurial journey, the ideas behind Atmos, Atmos’ neobanking stack, and more. Enjoy, and I’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback you have:
Can you describe your entrepreneurial journey and path to starting Atmos?
I’ve been in climate and clean energy for just over 20 years, since I had a Hollywood-like moment of epiphany during freshman orientation at the University of Washington. I’ve mostly worked to develop new energy generation or management technologies, only coming to the fintech space around 5 years ago through a Department of Energy accelerator program focused on reducing the cost of solar.
This is when I came to the conclusion that capital deployment was the “Archimedes Lever” that I had been searching for. Over the next few years I worked on developing lending models for residential solar using home mortgages, built a network of climate tech entrepreneurs & investors to improve capital raising for new technologies.
In 2018, I read the IPCC’s report that said that we need to start spending trillions of dollars each year if we’re going to have a chance of staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. In analyzing global capital providers, I came to the conclusion that only 4 entities really have this much money to deploy $1T each year towards this: The US Government, The Chinese Government, The EU as a whole, and “The Banks”.
What are the business and climate theses behind Atmos?
Over the next 30 years, the global banking sector will finance over $100T in clean energy, electrification, and other climate-positive infrastructure. The faster that this is accomplished, the lower the temperature that we lock in. Like Tesla has done in the automotive sector, Atmos’ goal is to accelerate the transition of the global banking sector away from fossil fuels and towards an equitable, clean energy transition.
How does Atmos build a profitable business model with its no-fee model?
Like traditional banks, Atmos will make money as it makes loans. Our model isn’t completely without fees, we will charge origination fees on our loans, and we may charge for certain services, but none for account ownership, balance, or use.
Is Atmos a bank, and if not, what underlying neobank infrastructure/stack does it use?
No, it is a climate fintech and works with FDIC member banks. We are using Synapse on Evolve Bank & Trust.
What type of traction has Atmos seen with users?
We’ve seen steady and accelerating account & deposit growth since launch on Jan 12. Many of our early customers work in clean energy or sustainability in some way and want to align their money with what they do on a daily basis.
How does Atmos plan to differentiate vs. the numerous other neobanks in the market?
Primarily it’s our mission and the execution of that mission. 99% of neobanks are focused generally on millennials and the underbanked and unbanked. We’re going after people who work in this sector and want to align their money with their mission. We’re going to be leveraging those deposits to make loans to finance climate-positive infrastructure. Most neobanks are deposit-gathering institutions only, relying on interchange fees to make money.
What’s upcoming on the product roadmap for Atmos?
We started a consumer savings account as our MVP to gain trust and as an easier ask of people. Next we’ll be adding in consumer debit/checking accounts and mobile apps. Then we’ll be rolling out commercial accounts and our direct lending program this summer, starting with residential solar + battery storage.
Outside of consumer banking, what areas within the intersection of fintech and climate change do you feel present promising opportunities for potential founders?
There are still incredible opportunities in insurance & risk modeling, investment products, innovative financing mechanisms for EVs & electrification, and the perennial startup problem, fundraising.