Forbes has launched its 2025 Fintech 50 checklist, recognizing the highest 50 non-public fintech startups which are driving monetary innovation within the USA.
These firms had been chosen for his or her development, product innovation, and management variety, and signify verticals together with banking, funds, investing, insurance coverage, actual property, in addition to blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Marking the tenth version of Fintech 50, this 12 months’s checklist noticed funds, business-to-business (B2B) banking, in addition to Wall Road and enterprise options dominate the rating, accounting for 31 of the 50 picks and 13 of the 18 first-time honorees.
Actual property and insurance coverage had decrease illustration this 12 months, with solely two and 4 firms successful, respectively. Blockchain and crypto, in the meantime, had three winners.
Among the many 50 fintech startups featured within the 2025 Forbes 50 checklist, we’ve shortlisted ten of essentially the most distinguished and fastest-growing ones. These firms have reached vital scale and recorded substantial momentum in 2024, positioning themselves for continued growth and innovation in 2025.
Stripe
Based in 2010, Stripe is an Irish-American multinational monetary providers and software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm dual-headquartered in California and Dublin. The corporate gives cost processing software programming interfaces (APIs), cost instruments, and options for dealing with subscriptions, invoicing, and monetary studies, serving sectors reminiscent of e-commerce, SaaS, platforms, marketplaces, and the creator financial system.
Stripe has emerged as a dominant power within the fintech business, and its affect is obvious in its widespread adoption by among the largest and most influential firms. The platform is now utilized by half of the Fortune 100, 80% of the Forbes Cloud 100, and 78% of the Forbes AI 50, with main companies reminiscent of NVIDIA, PepsiCo, NewsCorp, and Comcast counting on Stripe for his or her cost and monetary infrastructure wants.
In 2024, Stripe’s whole cost quantity surged to US$1.4 trillion, marking a 38% year-over-year (YoY) improve. This quantity is equal to roughly 1.3% of the worldwide gross home product (GDP), a testomony to Stripe’s growing affect within the monetary ecosystem.
Moreover, the corporate introduced that it was worthwhile in 2024 and expects to stay so this 12 months.
Stripe is valued at a staggering US$91.5 billion, making it essentially the most valued fintech startup on the earth, knowledge from CB Insights present.
Chime
Based in 2012, Chime is a San Francisco-based fintech firm that gives fee-free cellular banking providers. The corporate doesn’t function as a financial institution itself, working as an alternative in partnership with Stride Financial institution and The Bancorp Financial institution.
Chime gives a digital-first cellular banking providing, offering providers together with checking and high-yield financial savings accounts, early entry to paychecks, detrimental account balances with out overdraft charges, high-yield financial savings accounts, peer-to-peer (P2P) funds, and an interest-free secured bank card. The corporate doesn’t cost month-to-month service charges, overdraft charges, or impose minimal steadiness necessities, making it a pretty possibility for tens of millions of customers in search of higher monetary flexibility.
With a give attention to accessibility and transparency, Chime has constructed an enormous buyer base of over 22.3 million customers, establishing itself as a pacesetter within the neobank area. This success has captured the eye of top-tier traders, together with Menlo Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Administration and Acrew Capital, which have collectively invested US$2.65 billion into the startup up to now, bringing its valuation to US$25 billion in 2021.
Chime is now getting ready for a public itemizing, having confidentially filling for an preliminary providing public (IPO) in December 2024 with plans to go public this 12 months, folks conversant in the matter informed Bloomberg.
Plaid
Plaid is an American open banking firm primarily based in San Francisco, California. The corporate gives an infrastructure that permits customers and companies to securely join their financial institution accounts with 1000’s of monetary apps and providers, together with digital banking, lending and fraud prevention.
Plaid’s know-how powers over 8,000 digital finance purposes, together with business leaders like Venmo and SoFi, in addition to a number of Fortune 500 firms and main banks. Its international knowledge community helps over 12,000 monetary establishments throughout the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe.
Within the US, Plaid has grow to be broadly adopted, with at the least half of all People having used the corporate’s providers in some capability, Bloomberg reported in January, citing a supply conversant in the matter.
Plaid noticed its income rise greater than 25% in 2024. It reported significantly explosive development in its identification verification product, which surged 400% in utilization, whereas its funds product noticed a threefold improve.
Plaid is now reportedly working with Goldman Sachs to boost between US$300 million and US$400 million through a brand new secondary share sale, Bloomberg reported. Current backers embrace Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital, Thrive Capital, Altimeter Capital, Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital.
Plaid beforehand raised US$425 million in a Collection D funding spherical again in 2021 at a US$13.4 billion valuation.
Fireblocks
Based in 2018, Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a safe infrastructure for transferring, storing, and issuing digital belongings. Headquartered in New York, the corporate allows exchanges, custodians, banks, buying and selling desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations.
Fireblocks’ enterprise-grade platform leverages superior Safe Enclave (SGX) and Multi-Get together Computation (MPC) know-how, and streamlines custody, tokenization, cost, settlement, and buying and selling operations. The corporate serves over 2,000 organizations, together with main monetary establishments like BNY Mellon, Galaxy, Revolut, BNP Paribas, and Worldpay.
Thus far, Fireblocks has secured over US$7 trillion in digital asset transactions throughout 100 blockchains and greater than 250 million wallets, reinforcing its place as an business chief. The corporate is now increasing its international attain, having lately launched a brand new workplace in Japan to strengthen help in Asia.
Fireblocks’ speedy development and pioneering know-how have attracted over US$1 billion in funding from top-tier traders like Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, and BNY Mellon. The corporate is value a whopping US$8 billion, based on CB Insights.
Ramp
Based in 2019, Ramp gives an all-in-one finance automation platform that integrates company playing cards, expense administration, vendor funds, procurement workflows, and bookkeeping right into a single streamlined system. This automation-first strategy permits companies to avoid wasting each money and time, making monetary administration extra strategic and environment friendly.
Ramp serves over 30,000 companies throughout 195+ nations, together with business leaders like Webflow, CBRE, Notion, ZipRecruiter, and Stanley Steemer. The corporate powers over US$55 billion in annualized cost quantity throughout card transactions and invoice funds, up from US$10 billion in January 2023. Collectively, Ramp’s clients have saved US$2 billion and 20 million hours by automating tedious finance duties.
Ramp’s speedy development has been backed by sturdy investor confidence. Earlier this month, new and current traders together with Stripes, GIC, Avenir Progress, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Basic Catalyst, Lux Capital, 137 Ventures, and Definition Capital, bought US$150 million in secondary shares, bringing Ramp’s newest valuation to US$13 billion.
In 2025, Ramp plans to speed up product growth, with a give attention to increasing its synthetic intelligence (AI) capabilities and launching new product traces.
Bilt Rewards
Bilt Rewards is a funds and rewards platform that rewards members on lease and of their neighborhood. It’s the first and solely program within the US that lets members earn rewards on lease with out transaction charges, making it a novel providing within the fintech and actual property industries.
Bilt Rewards boasts one of many highest worth rewards applications available on the market at this time, together with one-to-one level transfers to 18 loyalty applications permitting members to journey throughout over 100 main airways and lodge companions.
Members can even e book journey by the Bilt Journey Portal powered by Expedia; e book health lessons on the nation’s prime boutique studios together with SoulCycle, Rumble and Y7; store limited-edition and unique collections of artwork and residential decor by the Bilt Assortment; store on Amazon.com; and redeem Bilt Factors for credit in the direction of lease and even in the direction of a down cost on a future dwelling.
Bilt Rewards claims its platform is adopted by 70% of the highest property homeowners and managers within the US, together with Greystar, Asset Dwelling, AvalonBay, Fairness Residential, Associated Firms, GID, Starwood, Cushman & Wakefield, Bozzuto, Camden, Brookfield, Berkshire Residential, ZRS, Highmark, Beztak, Trammell Crow, PGIM and extra. It’s accessible in over 4 million rental items throughout the nation.
Bilt Rewards is experiencing speedy adoption with whole platform spending now exceeding US$30 billion yearly. This development has been pushed by the growth of Bilt’s resident loyalty program to extra house buildings and into the condominium and owners affiliation (HOA) market.
Concurrently, the neighborhood loyalty program has seen vital growth of retailers, now encompassing over 21,000 eating places and three,500 health studios.
Navan
Navan, previously TripActions, gives an all-in-one journey administration, company card, and expense administration answer. Based in 2015 and primarily based in California, the answer is designed to simplify company journey and bills and get rid of the effort of managing flight adjustments and manually inputting receipts, all of the whereas additionally providing real-time visibility, management, and financial savings for firms.
Navan, which serves clients like Unilever and Christie’s, claims it’s now rising revenues by round 40% on common. Its fintech enterprise is increasing by 100%, outpacing its journey enterprise, which is rising at 30%.
As well as, there are indicators that Navan is gearing up for a market debut. For one, final summer season the startup employed the previous CFO of the New York Inventory Alternate as its finance chief. It additionally disclosed final summer season that journey bookings had been up practically twofold from year-earlier ranges.
Navan has raised greater than US$1.5 billion in enterprise funding up to now and was final valued at US$9.2 billion. The startup is backed by main traders together with Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Goldman Sachs, and Lightspeed.
Trumid
Based in 2014, Trumid is a distinguished US fintech firm that goals to remodel fixed-income digital buying and selling. Specializing in US dollar-denominated funding grade, excessive yield, distressed, and rising market bonds, the startup gives an modern, user-driven platform designed to optimize the credit score buying and selling expertise.
Trumid’s platform allows establishments, reminiscent of banks, hedge funds, and asset managers, to commerce bonds extra effectively, automate duties, and achieve real-time insights into the market. This platform focuses on enhancing liquidity, transparency, and effectivity within the bond market, in addition to delivering instruments for higher decision-making and seamless buying and selling throughout totally different bond segments.
In 2024, Trumid achieved its greatest 12 months but, with a 62% YoY improve in buying and selling quantity, reaching a report US$1.4 trillion in trades. Its platform continued to develop, with greater than 16,000 distinctive bonds traded in 2024 and over 920 establishments onboarded, together with buy- and sell-side companies.
DailyPay
Based in 2015 and headquartered in New York Metropolis, DailyPay gives an earned wage entry answer that permits staff to entry their wages as they earn them, moderately than ready for a scheduled payday.
By way of DailyPay, staff can switch the portion of their earned wages to a checking account or a pay as you go debit card at any time when they want it. Firms that associate with DailyPay supply this as an worker profit, enhancing their staff’ monetary well-being by giving them extra management over their revenue.
Along with its earned wage entry answer, DailyPay additionally gives a collection of monetary wellness merchandise, in addition to instruments that assist scale back worker turnover and enhance employee productiveness, based on its web site.
DailyPay, which is utilized by prime employers reminiscent of Goal, Kroger, and Hilton, has gained recognition for its development. Not too long ago, it earned a spot on the Deloitte Know-how Quick 500 for being one of many fastest-growing know-how, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and vitality tech firms in North America.
DailyPay is now gearing up for a public itemizing that might come as quickly because the second half of the 12 months, folks conversant in the matter informed Reuters. The startup is reportedly in talks to rent funding bankers for a deliberate IPO that might worth the corporate between US$3 billion and US$4 billion, the sources stated.
DailyPay was final valued at US$1.75 billion in January 2024, when it raised US$75 million from traders led by Carrick Capital Companions.
In January 2025, DailyPay employed former Uber CFO Nelson Chai as its government chair. Chai helped take the ride-hailing large public in 2019.
Mercury
Based in 2017 and primarily based in San Francisco, Mercury makes a speciality of digital banking providers for early-stage startups. The corporate gives an intuitive suite of banking and bank card instruments designed to assist startups handle funds with precision and management.
Mercury isn’t a chartered financial institution, however works with banking service suppliers to offer financial institution accounts, a bodily bank card, and instruments for expense administration software program, amongst different merchandise.
In 2024, Mercury expanded into client banking with Mercury Private, providing private banking providers reminiscent of high-yield financial savings accounts and customized debit playing cards. The providing is designed for entrepreneurs, traders, and builders who need a self-serve banking possibility. Prospects can set auto-transfer guidelines to maneuver cash between accounts, give entry to extra customers and customise permissions for every, difficulty a number of debit playing cards with customized spending limits.
Mercury has quickly gained reputation, with over 100,000 startups utilizing its platform for his or her monetary wants. This 12 months, it was named one of many prime ten fintech firms to look at by Juniper Analysis, acknowledged for its speedy development and growth.
Mercury lately reached US$500 million in annualized income, based on the Info. It’s now reportedly in talks with Sequoia Capital to boost a spherical of financing at a valuation of greater than US$3 billion, an individual conversant in the matter informed Bloomberg final month. The deal would double Mercury’s valuation from US$1.6 billion in 2021 after it raised US$120 million.
Featured picture credit score: edited from freepik
