Forbes included cryptocurrencies Coinbase and Ripple in its list of the Most Innovative Fintech Companies in 2019 despite price collapse of the major players in the industry headed by Bitcoin and other startups. Circle, Gemini, and Bitfury are also in the list of 50 fintech companies whose overall investments grew to $55 billion globally in 2018.
Investors poured $12.4 billion to U.S. fintechs, up 43% in 2017, a CB Insights paper showed. The study also revealed that the industry is expanding worldwide as transactions outside of main markets—the US, UK, and China—comprise 39% of the total deals.
The research also said the US retained the biggest market for fintech investments with 659 deals amounting to $11.9 billion in funding. Both figures are record highs.
The Forbes list also contains 20 startups that have made their first appearance.
2018 also saw an increase in venture capital-backed fintech unicorns (startups valued over $1 billion). There are now 26 of them is worth a combined $147.37 billion. Nineteen of the business magazine’s 2019 Fintech 50 belong to this category.
11 Most Valuable Fintechs
The most valuable private fintech in 2018 is Stripe, a payment processing company for small businesses, is worth $22.5 billion. Crypto-finance startup Coinbase ($8 billion), broker of publicly traded companies and ETFs Robinhood ($5.6 billion), crypto startup and blockchain-based global settlements network Ripple ($5 billion), and online personal finance company SoFi ($4.4 billion) completes the top five spots.
The online personal finance company Credit Karma ($4 billion) is in the sixth spot, followed by crypto startup Circle ($3 billion) and personal finance app developer Plaid ($2.7 billion). Online lending company Avant as well as cloud-based technology companies for business solutions Gusto and Zenefits are tied at the ninth spot with $2 billion each.
