Spanning a cohort born between 1980 to 2000, millennials broadly make up one of the largest generations in history (bigger than the baby boom generation). Millennials are also investing, lending, and sharing money much differently than their parents, and they are assisted by a growing set of tech-driven tools to do so.
The changing ways in how millennials manage their money is top of mind for many of the largest financial institutions in the world. In February, Goldman Sachs released an infographic on how millennial habits in health, marriage, housing, and more are impacting the economy.
Now, a host of fintech startups, and the investors backing them, are banking on millennials as a key demographic for their success. Fintech startups prominent in the millennial demographic range include “robo-advisors” offering low-cost alternatives to brokerages, to lending firms innovating in credit risk, and stock-picking and automated savings apps.
Many of the fintech startups are leveraging existing technologies already popular among young adults such as social networks and mobile messaging. Project crowdfunding sites GoFundMe and Andreessen Horowitz-backed Tilt, for example, mirror or take advantage of social networks and are largely popular among college audiences. Google Ventures and General Catalyst-backed HelloDigit transfers money directly via text message.
The graphic below breaks down the set of primarily US-based fintech companies appealing to the millennial generation including Robinhood, Acorns, Wealthfront, Earnest and more. (As we’ve also highlighted separately, startups in the digital banking market have attracted more than $10B since 2010.)
- 1st update, 2/8/16: We originally published this infographic 5/24/15 and updated it 2/8/16, adding nearly two-dozen new companies and removing a few like Square and Venmo that went to IPO or had previously exited.
Below is a full list of the companies on the graphic broken down by target area. If there are other emerging companies that you think should be highlighted, leave them in the comments as well.
| Company | Select Investors | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Tilt | Doll Capital Management, Felicis Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz | Crowdfunding |
| GoFundMe | Bootstrapped | Crowdfunding |
| Chime | Crosslink Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Homebrew, PivotNorth Capital | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Final | Y Combinator, T5 Capital, Ludlow Ventures | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Coin | SoftTech VC, Spark Capital, Redpoint Ventures | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Moven | Artemis Group, Ratpor Ventures, SBT Venture Capital, Route 66 Ventures | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Verse | Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bernardo Hernandez | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Circle | Accel Partners, General Catalyst partners, Breyer Capital, Goldman Sachs | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Xendit | Y Combinator | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Abra | American Express Ventures, Arbor Ventures, First Round Capital, RRE Ventures | Mobile Banking & Payments |
| Hello Digit | Google Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Freestyle Capital, General Catalyst Partners | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| BoostUp | Detroit Venture Partners, Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, Cornerstone Angels | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Prism | Chase Frankling, John Keister, Mark Britto, Rudy Gadre | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Splitwise | IDG Ventures, Great Oaks VC | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| BillGuard (Prosper) | Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund, IA Ventures, Khosla Ventures | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Sweep | N/A | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Acorns | JAM Equity Partners, Greycroft Partners, e.ventures | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Even | Khosla Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, Homebrew, Slow Ventures | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Qapital | Northzone Ventures | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| PolicyGenius | AXA Strategic Ventures, Karlin Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Revolution Ventures, Transamerica Ventures, Susa Ventures | Insurance (Non-Health) |
| Sure | ff Venture Capital, OVP Venture Partners | Insurance (Non-Health) |
| Trov | Anthemis Group | Insurance (Non-Health) |
| Lemonade | Aleph, Sequoia Capital | Insurance (Non-Health) |
| Homeslice | Matchfire | Savings & Finances Tracking |
| Loyal3 | DNS Capital | Personal Investing |
| Motif Investing | Norwest Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Ignition Capital, Goldman Sachs | Personal Investing |
| Robinhood | Google Ventures, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Ribbit Capital, NEA | Personal Investing |
| Stox | SingulariTeam | Personal Investing |
| Stash | N/A | Personal Investing |
| Kapitall | Bendigo Partners, Linden Venture Fund | Personal Investing |
| Tip’d Off | Raj Parekh, Bill Crane, Shaun Coleman | Personal Investing |
| DriveWealth | Route 66 Ventures | Personal Investing |
| Openfolio | FinTech Collective | Personal Investing |
| eToro | BRM Group, Ping An Ventures, Spark Capital | Personal Investing |
| Wealthfront | DAG Ventures, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, The Social+Capital Partnership | Wealth Management |
| Betterment | Bessemer Venture Partners, Athemis Group, Menlo Ventures | Wealth Management |
| SigFig | Doll Capital Management, Union Square Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures | Wealth Management |
| Personal Capital | Institutional Venture Partners, Venrock, Crosslink Capital | Wealth Management |
| WiseBanyan | VegasTech Fund | Wealth Management |
| Hedgeable | SixThirty | |
| Rebalance IRA | N/A | Wealth Management |
| Blooom | Commerce Ventures, DST Systems, Hyde Park VP, QED Investors, UMB Financial | Wealth Management |
| Aspiration | Renren, GSV Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, IGSB | Wealth Management |
| Affirm | Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Spark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Earnest | Atlas Venture, First Round Capital, Maveron, Andreessen Horowitz, Collaborative Fund | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Tuition.io | Mohr Davidow Ventures, Neu Venture Capital, Fenway Summer, Rothenberg Ventures, MESA+ | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Valore | Flybridge Capital Partners, Atlas Venture, North Hill Ventures | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Pave | – | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Upstart Network | Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NEA | Loans & Credit Risk |
| SoFi | Innovation Endeavors, Renren, Baseline Ventures, Doll Capital Management | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Vouch Financial | Greylock Partners, First Round Capital, IDG Ventures USA, Core Innovation Capital | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Vested Finance | Sandleigh Ventures | Loans & Credit Risk |
| CommonBond | The Social+Capital Partnership, Tribeca Venture Partners, Nelnet | Loans & Credit Risk |
| WeFinance | N/A | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Credible Labs | Redbus Group, Carthona Capital, Ron Suber, Scott Langmack, Soul Htite | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Bread | Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, Cue Ball Capital, Greycroft Partners, Maveron, RRE Ventures | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Credit Sesame | Inventus Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, IA Capital | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Credit Karma | Felicis Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Tiger Global, Google Capital | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Lenda | China Growth Capital, Rubicon VC, 500 Startups | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Sindeo | Renren, New Ground Ventures | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Backed | Cyhawk Ventures, iAngels | Loans & Credit Risk |
| Lenny | N/A | Loans & Credit Risk |
| LendKey | DFJ, Gotham Ventures, TTV Capital, Updata Partners | Loans & Credit Risk |