The Fintech 250: The Top Fintech Startups Of 2018

CB Insights unveiled the second annual Fintech 250 — a list of 250 of the top fintech startups applying a mix of software and technology to transform the financial services industry.

The entire Fintech 250 list and report is available here.

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The companies were selected by CB Insights’ Intelligence Unit from a pool of nearly 4,000 applicants and nominees based on several factors, including data submitted by the companies, business model and momentum in the market, and the company’s Mosaic Score, CB Insights’ proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies.

The 2018 Fintech 250 have raised approximately $53B in aggregate funding across 947 deals since 2013, and includes startups at different investment stages of development, from early-stage (seed/Series A) companies to well-funded unicorns.

The market map below categorizes the Fintech 250 companies based on core area of focus. Categories are not mutually exclusive. Scroll down to see a list of all the companies on the map and their associated categorization.

Please click to enlarge.

 2018 FINTECH 250 INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Unicorns: 30 of the Fintech 250 companies have reached a valuation of $1B or more and are in the unicorn club.
• Funding Trends: Since 2017, these 250 private companies have raised $31.85B across 373 deals.
• Mega-rounds: From 2013 – 2018 YTD (10/16/18) there have been 83 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year’s Fintech 250, with 33 of them in 2018 YTD. This year’s cohort has already seen more mega-rounds in 2018 YTD than 2017’s Fintech 250 list in all of 2017, with 23 mega-rounds investments.
• Outside the US: 44% of the 2018 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. The UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies outside the US, followed by India.
• Top VC Investor: Ribbit Capital is the top investor in Fintech 250 companies, having backed companies on the list including new 2018 unicorns, Nubank, Revolut, and PolicyBazaar as well as returning Fintech 250 companies Robinhood, Wealthfront, Gusto, Coinbase, Cross River Bank, and Upgrade.
• Top Deal: Ant Financial raised an unprecedented $14B Series C in Q2’18 that included General Atlantic, Warburg Pincus, GIC, Sequoia Capital China, Silver Lake Partners, T. Rowe Price, Temasek Holdings, and Primavera Capital Group, among others.
• Most well-funded: Ant Financial is also the most well-funded company on the Fintech 250 list having raised approximately $19.1B across 4 investments.

SINCE THE 2017 FINTECH 250:

• 2017 vs. 2018 quick stats: 2018’s list has seen more equity investments and venture funding in 2018 than 2017’s list saw last year.
• 2017 Fintech 250: 2017’s Fintech 250 list saw 22 exits, 11 through IPO and 11 through M&A.

• Top Exits through IPO: ZhongAn Insurance IPO in Q3’17 ($11B market cap at end of first day of trading). Payments platform Adyen went public in Q2’18 at an $8.3B market cap and today has a market cap of $20B+.
• Top Acquisition: iZettle was acquired by PayPal in Q2’18 for $2.2B, more than double what the company was seeking to raise in a planned initial public offering.
• All 2017 Fintech 250 companies remain active and in operation, when our own research shows that 67% of funded startups fail or stall.

Click here to access all 250 companies on CB Insights’ platform.

THE 2018 FINTECH 250 CATEGORIES AND MOST WELL-FUNDED STARTUP REPRESENTED

The 2017 Fintech 250

CB Insights unveiled the Fintech 250 — a list of 250 of the most promising private companies applying a mix of software and technology to transform the financial services industry — at the Future of Fintech conference on June 26, 2017.

“The financial services industry will see more change in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100. And that transformation is being driven by a group of smart insurgent startup companies. The Fintech 250 are the most promising of these insurgents. They are bringing emerging technologies and business models to financial services that will permanently change the way we handle money and do business.” — CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal said in a press release.

The companies were selected by CB Insights’ research team from a pool of nearly 2,000 applicants and nominees based on several factors, including data submitted by the companies and the company’s Mosaic Score, CB Insights’ proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies.

The Fintech 250 have raised approximately $32B in aggregate funding across 766 deals since 2013, and include startups at different investment stages of development, from seed/angel companies to well-funded unicorns.

The market map below categorizes the Fintech 250 companies based on core area of focus. Categories are not mutually exclusive. Scroll down to see a list of all the companies on the map and their associated categorization.

Please click on the map to enlarge. 

Investment Highlights:

• Unicorns: 23 of the Fintech 250 companies have reached a valuation of $1B or more and are in the unicorn club.
• Mega-rounds: There were 59 $100M+ mega-rounds to the Fintech 250 since 2013, with 13 of them in 2017 year-to-date (YTD).
  • One97 Communications, the parent company of India-based Paytm Payments Bank, raised a record $1.4B corporate minority investment from SoftBank Group.
  • Alternative lending platform SoFi raised a $500M Series F from SoftBank Group, GPI Capital, and Silver Lake Partners.
  • AvidXchange, a merchant services company focused on payments automation, raised a $300M Series F from, MasterCard Worldwide, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Temasek Holdings, and angel investor Peter Thiel.
• Top VC Investor: Ribbit Capital is the top investor in Fintech 250 companies, having backed 24 unique companies on the list including unicorns Robinhood, Wealthfront, Gusto, Coinbase, Cross River Bank, and Upgrade.
• Top Corporate Investor: Goldman Sachs is the top corporate investor, having participated in investments to 18 unique companies on the list including unicorns Symphony Communication Services Holdings, and Oscar Health Insurance Co.
• Top Deal: Ant Financial raised an unprecedented $4.5B Series B in Q2’16 that included CCB Trust, China Development Bank Capital, China Investment Corporation, China Life Insurance, China Post Capital and Primavera Capital Group.
• Most well-funded: Ant Financial is the most well-funded company on the Fintech 250 list having raised approximately $4.9B across 3 investments.

See the full Fintech 250 2017below:

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