The Forbes Fintech 50: The Most Innovative Fintech Companies In 2020
Investors poured more than $53 billion into fintech startups worldwide in 2019, according to Accenture. With entrepreneurs staging a frontal assault on centuries-old financial institutions, more of the pot than in years past went to digital-first banks and insurtechs.
One example is MoneyLion, a “neobank” whose app offers not only free checking accounts, debit cards and paycheck advances, but also managed ETF portfolios. With more than six million users, it’s making a first appearance on the Fintech 50 this year. Another one to watch is Dave, a $1-a-month app whose five million-plus users get help building their credit scores, plus checking accounts with no minimums or overdraft fees. Investors, including billionaire Mark Cuban, have put $76 million into Dave, and it’s already valued at $1.2 billion.
In insurtech, there are four new companies to break into the ranks, including Ethos, which uses predictive technology to quote term life insurance prices in 10 minutes and verifies applicants’ self-reported data with their medical and pharmacy records, so that most are approved without a medical exam. Investors, including VC firms and Jay-Z, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Durant and Will Smith, have put $107 million into Ethos, which is now valued at $450 million, according to PitchBook.
In all, 19 companies on this year’s Fintech 50—our fifth-annual list—are first-timers. As always, we’re open to startups with good ideas, no matter how small. Propel has just $18 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Serena Williams, among others, and it’s valued at $55 million. But its mobile app, Fresh EBT, is already enabling two million food-stamp recipients to check their balances, clip coupons electronically and hunt for jobs and social services. Founder Jimmy Chen, 32, grew up in a Kansas City family that had trouble putting food on the table and went on to Stanford and stints at LinkedIn and Facebook.
While new fintechs emerge, the valuations of later-stage companies are ballooning: 13 of this year’s picks are worth more than $2 billion, compared with eight last year. In 2019, payments giant Stripe saw its value swell by $13 billion to $35 billion—three and a half times the worth of the second most valuable fintech, Ripple. It took Digital bank Chime took just nine months to go from $1.3 billion to $5.8 billion in value.
A couple things all our Fintech 50 2020 picks have in common: they’re private companies with operations or customers in the U.S., and they’re making it easier, faster and cheaper to use financial services.
The List: 2020 Fintech 50
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Name | Categories | Funding | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Acorns | Personal Finance | $257 M | Irvine, California |
Addepar | Wall Street & Enterprise | $240 M | Mountain View, California |
Affirm | Personal Finance | $800 M | San Francisco, California |
Axoni | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $59 M | New York, New York |
Behavox | Wall Street & Enterprise | $20 M | New York, New York |
Better.com | Real Estate | $254 M | New York, New York |
Betterment | Investing | $275 M | New York, New York |
Brex | B2B Lending | $315 M | San Francisco, California |
Cadre | Real Estate | $133 M | New York, New York |
Carta | Wall Street & Enterprise | $448 M | San Francisco, California |
Chainalysis | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $45 M | New York, New York |
Chime | Personal Finance | $805 M | San Francisco, California |
Coinbase | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $525 M | San Francisco, California |
Credit Karma | Personal Finance | $869 M | San Francisco, California |
Dave | Personal Finance | $76 M | Los Angeles, California |
Divvy Homes | Real Estate | $163 M | San Francisco, California |
Ethos | Insurance | $107 M | San Francisco, California |
Everledger | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $20 M | London, United Kingdom |
Fattmerchant | Payments | $18 M | Orlando, Florida |
Finix | Payments | $55 M | San Francisco, California |
Hippo Insurance | Insurance | $209 M | Palo Alto, California |
iCapital Network | Investing | $80 M | New York, New York |
Insurify | Insurance | $30 M | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Kabbage | B2B Lending | $489 M | Atlanta, Georgia |
Kindur | Investing | $11 M | New York, New York |
Lemonade | Insurance | $480 M | New York, New York |
Lively | Personal Finance | $42 M | San Francisco, California |
MakerDAO | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $63 M | New York, New York |
Marqeta | Payments | $378 M | Oakland, California |
MoneyLion | Personal Finance | $207 M | New York, New York |
Next Insurance | Insurance | $381 M | Palo Alto, California |
Nova Credit | Personal Finance | $65 M | San Francisco, California |
Opendoor | Real Estate | $1300 M | San Francisco, California |
Payoneer | Payments | $270 M | New York, New York |
Plaid | Payments | $310 M | San Francisco, California |
Plastiq | Payments | $140 M | San Francisco, California |
Propel | Personal Finance | $18 M | New York, New York |
Ripple | Blockchain & Bitcoin | $293 M | San Francisco, California |
Roofstock | Real Estate | $133 M | Oakland, California |
Root Insurance | Insurance | $528 M | Columbus, Ohio |
Stash | Investing | $192 M | New York, New York |
States Title | Real Estate | $107 M | San Francisco, California |
Stripe | Payments | $1000 M | San Francisco, California |
Tala | Personal Finance | $200 M | Santa Monica, California |
Tally | Personal Finance | $92 M | San Francisco, California |
Toast | Payments | $498 M | Boston, Massachusetts |
TransferWise | Payments | $689 M | London, United Kingdom |
Trumid | Wall Street & Enterprise | $200 M | New York, New York |
Unison | Real Estate | $40 M | San Francisco, California |
Upstart | Personal Finance | $165 M | San Mateo, California |