We used CB Insights’ Company Mosaic score, which uses public data and predictive algorithms to assess the strength of private companies, to analyze the top payments startups globally.
Below are the top 10, along with recent news headlines about their financings or partnerships:
Square headed up our list of companies rated highest by Mosaic score, followed by MobiKwik, TransferWise, and WePay — all in a 3-way tie for second place.
A few interesting trends emerge from the above list. Most of the companies in the top 10 tend to fall into one of two categories: point-of-sale solutions or secure payment-processing.
Although companies in the top 10 fill similar needs, they don’t always take the same approach or operate in the same markets.
For example, Affirm and MobiKwik are both online payment tools targeted to consumers, but Affirm offers loans and payment plans for large purchases, while MobiKwik aims to serve as a mobile wallet.
Both WorldRemit and Transferwise help individuals send money internationally. However, they work very differently. Transferwise uses a peer-to-peer network to execute transfers at a low cost, but is limited in terms of locations and currencies. WorldRemit offers a full-suite money-transfer service. Interestingly, none of the top 10 firms as ranked by Mosaic are focused on cryptocurrency, despite all of the buzz around the topic.
Square and iZettle are moving in different directions, although both offer credit-card readers and point-of-sale solutions for small businesses. Square’s pursuit of e-commerce vendors (in addition to the point-of-sale market) and its focus on the US market differentiate it quite clearly from iZettle — for now, at least. iZettle operates mainly in Europe and Latin America.
It’s likely we’ll see more direct competition and consolidation in this space as the market becomes more defined.
Many of the top 10 payments companies as ranked by Mosaic are also among the most well-funded and highly-valued startups in the space. Both Stripe and Square recently received multibillion dollar valuations and Stripe recently struck a highly publicized deal with Pinterest, in which Stripe will power Pinterest’s “Buyable Pins” feature.
The top-ranked payments companies are also portfolio companies at many of the top VC firms. Index Ventures has invested in 4 out of the top 10 companies: Zuora, Adyen, iZettle, and TransferWise. Some of the other investors who have funded multiple top 10 companies include Andreessen Horowitz (3), Khosla Ventures (3), Greylock Partners (2), and Sequoia Capital (2).
A full table of the top 25 payments companies per mosaic is below:
| Company | Latest Funding Round | Total Funding($M) | Select Investors | Mosaic Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square | Series E | $716.8 | Khosla Ventures; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Sequoia Capital; Tiger Global Management | 970 |
| MobiKwik | Series B | $30 | American Express Ventures; Cisco Investments; Sequoia Capital India; Tree Line Asia | 940 |
| TransferWise | Series C | $90.3 | Andreessen Horowitz; IA Ventures; Index Ventures; Kima Ventures | 940 |
| WePay | Series D | $74.2 | FTV Capital; Highland Capital Partners; Y Combinator | 940 |
| Stripe | Series C | $190 | Andreessen Horowitz; Khosla Ventures; Lowercase Capital; Sequoia Capital | 930 |
| Zuora | Series F | $242.5 | Greylock Partners; Index Ventures; Vulcan Capital | 930 |
| iZettle | Series C | $109.7 | Greylock Partners; Index Ventures; Intel Capital | 920 |
| Adyen | Series B | $266 | Felicis Ventures; General Atlantic; Index Ventures | 920 |
| Affirm | Debt | $325 | Andreessen Horowitz; Khosla Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners | 920 |
| WorldRemit | Series B | $140 | Accel Partners; Technology Crossover Ventures | 910 |
| Klarna | Growth Equity | $289.3 | Atomico; Digital Sky Technologies; General Atlantic; Sequoia Capital | 900 |
| Number26 | Series A | $12.6 | Earlybird Venture Capital; Redalpine Venture Partners; Valar Ventures | 890 |
| BitPay | Series A | $32.7 | Index Ventures; RRE Ventures; TTV Capital | 890 |
| Bill.com | Series F | $122.6 | American Express Ventures; Silicon Valley Bank; TTV Capital | 890 |
| Remitly | Series B | $23.8 | Bezos Expeditions; DN Capital; TomorrowVentures | 880 |
| BOKU | Undisclosed | $91.1 | Andreessen Horowitz; Benchmark Capital; Khosla Ventures | 880 |
| Coin | Corporate Minority | $17 | SoftTech VC; Spark Capital; Y Combinator | 860 |
| Clinkle | Seed | $30.5 | Accel Partners; Andreessen Horowitz; Intel Capital | 860 |
| Billtrust | Series C | $54.5 | Bain Capital Ventures; Edison Partners; Goldman Sachs | 860 |
| 2C2P | Series C | $10 | Amun Capital; Digital Media Partners; GMO Venture Partners | 850 |
| Bitstamp | Undisclosed | $10 | Pantera Capital | 850 |
| Dwolla | Series D | $32.3 | Andreessen Horowitz; Union Square Ventures | 850 |
| Wonga | Series C | $145.5 | Accel Partners; Greylock Partners; Oak Investment Partners | 850 |
| Fortumo | Series A | $10 | Greycroft Partners; Intel Capital | 840 |
| Coinbase | Series C | $105.8 | Andreessen Horowitz; Union Square Ventures;Y Combinator | 840 |
Want more information on payments companies? Check out our venture capital database below.
This report was created with data from CB Insights’ emerging technology insights platform, which offers clarity into emerging tech and new business strategies through tools like:
- Earnings Transcripts Search Engine & Analytics to get an information edge on competitors’ and incumbents’ strategies
- Patent Analytics to see where innovation is happening next
- Company Mosaic Scores to evaluate startup health, based on our National Science Foundation-backed algorithm
- Business Relationships to quickly see a company’s competitors, partners, and more
- Market Sizing Tools to visualize market growth and spot the next big opportunity