Long $MVBF:

At the surface, this is a small W. Va. bank trading around 1.7x TBV.

But a deeper looks shows that it's a fintech play with exposure to Credit Karma, crypto (Kraken) and most importantly igaming (Draftkings, Fanduel, etc)

Gaming deposits grew 70% from Q3 to Q4!

Around 2014-15, MVB was growing loan portfolio at 20% CAGR, but the deposits were not growing.

So CEO Larry Mazza and team went towards fintech as a way to get low cost deposits.

Larry: "We get deposits nationally but still loan locally”...

They are the bank for U.S. operations of Tipico, Score (tie up with Penn National gaming), and Betfred. MVB also has clients in FanDuel, DraftKings and Credit Karma.

Total 22 gaming client as of now

They are now the 21st bank in the US in terms of number of accounts... all acquired through partners with low CAC.

So there's fast growth at cheap price here.

There's optionality on the tech side - MVB has invested in fintech startups as well as bought startups (GRAND app, Flexia).

If these startup investments work out, that's great for investors. If they don't, MVB can acqui-hire

MVB has an entire Fintech division which is growing fast - added 140 FTE to 400 existing last year. Allows full remote work.

Job postings give some hint -- GRAND app & Flexia payment for integrated online/offline payments for gaming to transfer money across gaming apps

There are deals here with payment processors, and referrals from existing igaming customers to get new customers

There are unknowns here on fintech side because MVB hasn't actively promoted it and some things are still cooking.

But Larry (CEO) has a definite view of the future and is creating it. While doing so, he's betting big - owns 6% of stock. Even borrowed money to exercise options

Larry lives in West Virginia. Makes $1-$2M a year and has $22M in MVBF stock. I'd say he's got half of his net worth in it. Big bet!
In December, he plunked $2.5M to exercise options in December, while MVBF was trying to buy back ~20% of stock through dutch auction

When asked about what fintech banking-as-a-service co. he admires, Larry said Live Oak Bank and nCino (nCino is 7-8x Live Oak size). He hinted that it's the reason the Fintech division is separate from MVB the bank

h/t to @hareng_rouge for bringing this to my notice and for discussions