The 7 Unicorn Companies In The Payments Industry

Over the past 5 years, private payments-company valuations have exploded, and payments startup companies valued at $1B or more have emerged in several markets. We used CB Insights’ data to identify these unicorn companies in the payments industry, along with their funding tallies and principal investors.

• At the top of our valuation list is Square, recently valued at $6B. Square has raised more than $700M in funding from backers including Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.
• Square is followed by Stripe, which has raised $190M in funding at a maximum valuation of $3.5B, with backers including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures.
• The next five payments unicorns are all based outside the US market: One97 Communications, Adyen, Transferwise, Lakala, and Klarna.

One97 Communications is only one of two Asia-based payments unicorn on our list, with $585M in funding, and was most recently valued at up to $2B, with backers including Intel Capital and Ratan Tata. China’s Lakala has raised $242M in funding, and the company is valued at $1.6B.

Europe had three payments unicorns. Netherlands-based Adyen has raised $266M and reached a valuation of $1.5B, with backers including Index Ventures. London-based Transferwise has raised $90M and its most recent valuation was just under $1.1B. Its backers including Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Sweden’s Klarna has received nearly $300M from backers including Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic.

Among top VCs, Sequoia Capital (3), Andreessen Horowitz (2), Khosla Ventures (2), and Index Ventures (2) are all investors in more than one of the payments unicorns. 

Want more data on payments companies? Check out our venture capital database below.