With publicly-traded fintech companies down 50% since the past few months, venture capitalists are putting the brakes on funding for startups in the sector; U.S. fintech raised $13.3 billion during the first quarter of 2022, a 27% decline compared with that same period last year, according to a report by data provider CB Insights. Even more dramatic, according to the report: the median valuation of late-stage American fintech that raised money in the first quarter of 2022 was $1.9 billion, 58% lower than those that raised funding in the last quarter of 2021.
In February 2020, just before Covid-19 hit the U.S, the average valuation of America’s ten biggest private fintech companies was $9 billion, and the cutoff to make the list was $3.7 billion. For our 2022 list, those numbers have more than tripled–to an average value of $27.7 billion and a cutoff of $12 billion. Future funding rounds will show whether these record valuations reflect an about-to-burst bubble or are, perhaps, sustainable after a pause.
Half of the 10 fintech companies on the 2020 10 most valuable list—including Robinhood—have since gone public. The free stock trading software went public in July of last year at a price of $35 and reached a high of $55. Its current market capitalization of $8 billion, or a 30% decrease from its value as a private firm in 2021, is based on its current trading price of just $9.
The third-most valuable private fintech company operating in the United States and the most significant addition on the 2022 list is the crypto trading exchange FTX, which is now valued at $32 billion after becoming a unicorn less than a year ago. Also new to our ranks is the $13 billion NFT trading platform OpenSea. Following are the most powerful fintech companies in America, according to Forbe’s research and ranking.
1. Stripe
Founded in 2011, Stripe helps businesses big and small process online payments, take out business loans and automatically calculate and collect sales tax. The company remains the most valuable American private fintech with a $95 billion valuation raised in a 2021 Series H round, and is the world’s fourth most valuable private company, following TikTok owner Bytedance, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Chinese fast fashion seller SHEIN. Stripe processed $640 billion in payments last year, a 60% increase from 2020. (Read more about Stripe here.)
2. Klarna
The pioneer of the buy-now-pay-later model, Klarna banked on customers moving away from credit cards, but still want a way to pay over time. Users can buy anything from Nike sneakers to Sephora lipsticks through the app and choose to schedule interest-free payments or pay at check out. The company makes most of its revenue by charging retail partners for affiliate marketing and payment services. Klarna is reportedly working to raise $1 billion in a down round that could lower the company’s valuation to the $30 billion range.
3. FTX
One of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, FTX’s valuation catapulted from $1.2 billion to $25 billion after it raised $1.5 billion in private funding last year. Its valuation shot up to $32 billion after a $500 million raise in January. The Bahamas-based company handles around 11% of the $2.4 trillion in derivatives traded worldwide each month. Eager to become a household name, FTX is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing, signing up celebrity brand ambassadors including Tom Brady, David Ortiz and Kevin O’Leary, as it goes after U.S. customers with a separate entity, FTX US, valued at $8 billion.
4. Chime
The largest digital bank in the United States, Chime rose in popularity by providing free checking accounts with no overdraft fees and offering cash advances to its customers. According to a source familiar with the matter, Chime was preparing to go public early this year but delayed the IPO amid a rocky stock market. CEO Chris Britt says Chime acquired more new customers in the first quarter of 2022 than in any other quarter in the bank’s ten-year history.
5. Ripple
Ripple facilitates international payments and remittances through blockchain technology and through its dedicated cryptocurrency, XRP. The company has more than 300 institutional clients, including Standard Chartered, Santander and MoneyGram, which uses Ripple for 10% of its cross-border transactions to Mexico. The SEC is suing Ripple for alleged illegal securities offerings through the sale of XRP. CEO Brad Garlinghouse says he might consider taking the company public once the lawsuit is settled.
6. Blockchain.com
The British crypto exchange is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency wallet allowing users to manage their private keys for several currencies. It has expanded to the U.S. and now can serve customers in 35 states, including California. Founded in 2011, the company claims one-third of the world’s bitcoin transactions are conducted on Blockchain.com, with 83 million wallets and over $1 trillion transacted since its launch.
7. Plaid
Founded in 2012, Plaid helps fintech apps like Venmo and Coinbase connect to customers’ bank accounts, facilitating smooth payments and deposits. Earlier this year, Plaid acquired identity verification and KYC (know your customer) compliance provider Cognito for $250 million. Plaid grew its customer base from about 4,500 in late 2020 to 6,300 by the end of 2021.
8. OpenSea
A big winner in 2021’s NFT craze, OpenSea is a peer-to-peer platform where users can create, trade, buy and sell NFTs. The company, founded almost five years ago, keeps a 2.5% cut of each sale and has been processing about $3 billion in NFT transactions monthly, earning roughly $75 million in monthly revenue. With over 1.5 million accounts having transacted on the platform, OpenSea maintains dominance in the NFT market, but key competitors like Coinbase, which launched its NFT exchange in May, are trying to close the gap.
9. Brex
Corporate banking products suite Brex provides FDIC-insured corporate cash management accounts and corporate credit cards with no account fees, travel rewards and built-in expense tracking. Its online dashboard offers expense-management software and facilitates businesses’ bill-paying process. In August, the San Francisco-based company launched a lending service geared towards venture-backed tech companies and made its biggest acquisition yet in April—spending $90 million on a software startup to help users with budgeting and financial projections. Its tens of thousands of customers include ClassPass, Airbnb and Carta.
10. GoodLeap
California-based GoodLeap makes it easier for users to make green home upgrades. It has funneled $13 billion in financing to about 380,000 homeowners—half of that just within the past year—through partner banks, including Goldman Sachs, which make the loans and then securitize the debt to sell to investors, using its software to track loan performance. Contractors and vendors use GoodLeap’s point-of-sale app to get customers’ project loans instantly approved for solar panel installation, and as of last year, more than 20 other categories of sustainable improvements, including battery storage, and energy-efficient windows and water-saving turf.
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