100 Fastest-growing fintech startups to reach $1 billion valuation the quickest

We started off this year with our annual list of global unicorn startups, a list of emerging private companies that leverage new technologies or unknown market niches to achieve a value of over 1 billion dollars. In just a year, the number of these unicorns grew from 782 in 2021 to 1,207 unicorn startup companies as of October 2022.

The exponential growth happened despite the ongoing recession and slowdowns in the global economy. When we look at these unicorns, what we found really fascinating is that, of the global 1,207 unicorns, 250 of them are fintech startups. This is also not surprising considering that fintech startups operate in a wide range of sectors, from payments and lending to insurance and investments.

The fintech sector has grown rapidly in the last five years and the industry has attracted a significant amount of investment in recent years. Many investors see fintech as a way to tap into the huge market potential of financial services and as a way to gain exposure to the growth of technology.

Unlike legacy banks, these fintech unicorns use technology to create new and improved financial products and services, such as mobile payment systems, digital banks, online lending platforms, and financial management tools.

In this piece, we want to take a deep dive into the data to understand trends and identify the 50 fastest-growing fintech startups and which fintech companies reached a $1 billion valuation the quickest. To narrow down our selection of the 50 fastest-growing fintech, we didn’t just look at their valuations, but we also look at other factors including funding, staff growth, partnerships, market share, media coverage, and growth trajectory. Of the 50 fintech unicorns, three of them really stood out: Stripe, Checkout.com, and Revolut.

As of January 2023, Stripe is the world’s most valuable fintech company with a valuation of $95 billion, with its valuation more than twice as high as any other fintech company on our list. The San Francisco-based Stripe has seen rapid growth in recent years. Stripe first achieved its unicorn status at the beginning of 2014, four years after it was founded. The company’s API allows businesses of all sizes to accept payments online, leveling the financial payment playing field for everyone. Stripe is backed by prominent investors including Khosla Ventures, LowercaseCapital, and capitalG.

The second and third on our list are Checkout.com and Revolut respectively. Checkout.com is in second place with a total valuation of $40 billion valuation. Unlike Stripe, it took the London-based fintech startup about 10 years to achieve the coveted unicorn status after its inception in 2009. Revolut gets third place with a $33 billion valuation. Revolut was founded in July 2015, and three years later in April 2018, the fintech reached a $1 billion valuation. Backed by index Ventures, DST Global, and Ribbit Capital, Revolut helps customers save money. The startup also offers exclusive discounts on a number of different websites.

With that, below are the 50 fastest-growing fintech startups.

The Top 100 Most Valuable Fintech Companies In The World