The BNPL leader’s listing is the first one for BNPL providers since Affirm in 2021 and follows Valu’s filing in June 2025. Regulators continue to raise concerns about BNPL’s impact on consumer debt, yet adoption keeps climbing. Nearly 90 million Americans used BNPL in 2024, up 7% year over year, and in certain global markets, usage is even higher. 

Despite the challenging market for exits overall, CB Insights’ IPO probability scores for the strongest BNPL companies are up to 14x the average for all companies. Using the IPO likelihood and CB Insights’ other predictive signals, including Mosaic scores, we’ve identified the BNPL platforms most likely to go public next and what their listings could reveal about the rest of the market.

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Dealmaking fell this quarter by 7% to 804, as mega-rounds drove a substantial share (40%) of funding, and median deal size increased from $4M to $5M.

This quarter, the largest deal was Plaid‘s $575M round, reflecting rising demand for embedded finance and solutions that serve multiple fintech segments. 

Mega-round activity was heavily concentrated in the US, which claimed a record 65% share of mega-round deals.

Digital assets saw momentum on the exit front, highlighted by Circle’s IPO and two of the largest M&A deals involving blockchain companies: Coinbase’s acquisition of Deribit ($2.9B) and Stripe’s acquisition of Privy (undisclosed). 

Wealth tech and B2B fintech stood out as higher-momentum segments in Q2, with wealth tech funding seeing a dramatic uptick (up 171% QoQ to reach $1.9B), while B2B fintechs attracted several of the largest banking and payments equity rounds this quarter.

Download the full report to access comprehensive data and charts on the evolving state of fintech.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Fintech sector recovery continues with 2 consecutive $10B quarters, which hasn’t happened since early 2023. This quarter’s largest investment went to fintech infrastructure leader Plaid at $575M. Despite these recent highs, funding remains well below 2022 levels.
• US-based fintechs command record share of global investment. The US achieved unprecedented dominance in Q2’25, capturing 65% of mega-rounds and 43% of all deals, both all-time highs. The US also captured 71% of mega-round funding and 60% of total fintech investment, reflecting a clear investor preference for US-based fintech opportunities.
• B2B fintech attracts the majority of large deals. B2B fintech companies brought in 60% of the largest payments investments and 50% of the largest banking rounds in Q2’25, led by Ramp‘s $200M Series D and Dojo‘s $190M private equity round. The pattern signals a growing appetite for business-facing fintech platforms over consumer-oriented applications.
• Digital wealth management is seeing a dramatic funding revival. Q2’25 marked a turning point for wealth tech with $1.9B in funding — nearly triple the Q1 number of $0.7B and the sector’s strongest performance in 3 years. Large deals like Addepar‘s $230M Series G round and Groww‘s $200M Series F drove both average and median deal sizes higher
  
• Fintech M&A activity remains elevated. Fintech M&A deals rose to 205 in Q2’25, following a significant increase in Q4’24. Digital assets continue to drive exit activity, with Circle going public at a $6.9B valuation in June, Stripe’s acquisition of Privy, and Coinbase’s $2.9B acquisition of Deribit.

We dive into the trends below.

Fintech sector shows signs of recovery with two consecutive $10B quarters

For the first time since early 2023, fintech funding has exceeded $10B for 2 consecutive quarters. 

Although Binance‘s $2B round propped up Q1’25, both Q1 and Q2 received 40% of total funding dollars from mega-rounds. Funding increased in most fintech subsectors in Q2, including capital markets, digital banking, digital lending, payments, and wealth tech. Notably the proportion of early-stage deals decreased across all sectors but one (digital lending) in 2025 YTD, indicating that investors are selectively funding mature companies across the fintech ecosystem.

The quarter’s largest investment went to fintech infrastructure leader Plaid, which raised $575M. New investors BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton led the round, which also included the company’s existing investors New Enterprise Associates and Ribbit Capital. 

While Plaid’s latest valuation of $6.1B declined by half since its Series D round in 2021, this reflects a broader correction in tech valuations. In fact, Plaid’s fundamentals remain strong with 18% headcount growth over the last 12 months and 25% revenue growth in 2024. Plaid also reported that with an increase in the number of companies and markets it serves, now more than 1 in 2 Americans have used its products. 

The second- and third-largest rounds of this quarter went to payroll fintech Rippling and Addepar, which is building investment portfolio management software. Late-stage deals across digital banking, capital markets, payments, and wealth tech also increased in Q2, suggesting current investment conditions favor established fintechs with proven business models.

Explore 23,000+ fintech companies

US-based fintechs command record share of global investment

The US achieved unprecedented dominance across a variety of metrics in Q2’25, reflecting increased momentum for US-based fintechs.

US-based companies captured 65% of mega-rounds in Q2’25 — the highest share on record. US fintechs also secured 71% of all mega-round funding.

This geographic concentration extended beyond mega-rounds: US-based fintechs received 60% of total fintech investment dollars and 43% of all deals, with the latter representing another all-time high. Meanwhile, median and average deal size have both risen this quarter, and the proportion of early stage deals has dropped in 2025 YTD from 72% to 66%. Investors are focused on mid-to-late-stage, US-based fintechs, which benefit from a mature market and established financial infrastructure that facilitates scaling.

Mid-year 2025, stabilizing interest rates and improved market conditions accompany institutional appetite for later-stage fintech investments. Yet fintech lags behind other sectors in the broader market recovery. Quarterly venture funding has rebounded to over $90B each over the last 3 quarters (heights not seen since 2022) while the increase in 2025 fintech funding remains modest. The US offers compelling advantages for risk-conscious investors, including mature fintechs with proven business models and a large addressable market for end consumers and businesses.

Explore 9,600+ US-based fintechs

B2B fintech solutions attract the majority of large deals

B2B fintech companies dominated in Q2’25, capturing 60% of the top 10 equity payments investments and 50% of the top 10 equity banking rounds.

This dominance signals a clear trend: businesses are increasingly hungry for digital-first financial tools that can streamline their operations, from automated spend management and corporate credit cards to comprehensive business banking platforms.

Major B2B deals included spend management leader Ramp’s $200M Series D at a record $16B valuation, payments platform Dojo’s $190M private equity round from Vitruvian Partners, and business banking provider Airwallex’s $150M Series F. Finom, which provides digital business banking for SMBs, obtained a $132M Series C round.

B2B-focused fintechs companies are rapidly scaling to meet demand — Ramp nearly doubled its headcount over the past 12 months, while its competitor Mercury more than doubled its valuation at the end of March in a $300M Series C round. Ramp launched treasury offerings in 2025, while Mercury Treasury recently upgraded with same-day liquidity. The introduction of new enterprise features, combined with funding rounds, headcount, and valuation increases, signals that these mid-to-late stage companies are expanding aggressively to capture B2B market share amid ample competition.

This shift towards B2B solutions suggests that the need for businesses to digitize their financial operations will drive fintech’s next growth phase, with investors betting on the larger deal sizes and stickier revenue models that business clients provide. Meanwhile, businesses accelerating digital transformation initiatives post-pandemic have created a large addressable market for financial software solutions that can demonstrate clear ROI through operational efficiency gains.

Explore the SMB fintech market map

Digital wealth management sees dramatic funding revival

Q2’25 marked a turning point for wealth tech, with the subsector raising $1.9B in funding, nearly triple the previous quarter’s total and the highest level since Q2’22. A handful of mega-rounds drove the increase, as deal count remained on par with last quarter. 

Notable deals included late-stage equity rounds to portfolio management platform Addepar ($230M), investment app Groww ($200M), digital broker Scalable Capital ($177M), RIA (registered investment advisor) platform Altruist ($152M), and personal finance toolkit Stash ($146M). These deals drove both average and median deal sizes higher across the sector.

Investors are gravitating toward wealth tech as AI unlocks new efficiencies in portfolio management, making investment services more scalable, cost-effective, and accessible to a broader market. Last month, Altruist acquired AI assistant Thyme to better serve financial advisors. Stash has earmarked their $146M round to support AI capabilities, including its consumer financial advice platform Money Coach AI. Addepar acquired AI workflow platform Arcus in May. Among the top 10 wealth tech companies by Mosaic, our proprietary startup health score, half have rolled out AI tools, earmarked new funding for AI capabilities, or made AI-related acquisitions in 2025 YTD.

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M&A activity remains elevated

Fintech M&A deals rose to 205 in Q2’25, following a significant increase in Q4’24.

Notably, two of the most prominent M&A deals this quarter went to blockchain companies. The second largest fintech acquisition in Q2’25 was Coinbase’s $2.9B acquisition of crypto derivatives exchange Deribit. Meanwhile, Stripe acquired Privy, which provides white-label crypto wallet infrastructure, for an undisclosed sum in June. This follows its Q4’24 purchase of stablecoin company Bridge for $1.1B.

Major stablecoin issuer Circle went public in June at a $6.9B valuation, its stock quickly skyrocketing in value. 

Other important exits this quarter involved neobanks and B2B tech, which have enjoyed momentum in 2025 to date:

The largest IPO in Q2’25 was neobank Chime at a $9.8B valuation based on outstanding shares. Like Plaid, Chime’s valuation represented a significant decrease from its high of $25B in 2021, attributable to broader market correction.

Xero’s $3B acquisition of accounts payable and receivable solution Melio was the largest of the quarter, tying into the surge in B2B interest.

Search recently funded fintech companies with high M&A probabilities

MORE FINTECH RESEARCH FROM CB INSIGHTS

• The SMB fintech market map
• The stablecoin market map
• State of Fintech Q1’25 report

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AI continues to dominate, capturing 50% of venture investment. At the same time, investors are doubling down on hard tech — hardware-focused and capital-intensive technology — driven by surging energy demands from AI, advancements in robotics, and growing defense interest.

Below, we break down the top stories from this quarter’s report, including:

• Funding tops $90B for the third straight quarter, while deal count declines
• Hard tech claims 6 of the top 10 largest deals
• AI companies command funding premiums across sectors
• Regulatory shifts push big tech from M&A to minority investments
• CVC deals hit a 7-year low as the tariff threat looms

We also outline the categories shaping venture dealmaking for the rest of 2025 — including stablecoins, defense tech, quantum, and nuclear energy.

Let’s dive in.

Download the full report to access comprehensive data and charts on the evolving state of venture across sectors, geographies, and more.

Top stories in Q2’25

1. Funding tops $90B for the third straight quarter, while deal count declines

Venture funding reached $94.6B in Q2’25, marking the second-highest quarterly figure since Q2’22 and the third straight quarter to surpass $90B.

While funding dipped slightly from Q1’25, the decline reflects normalization after OpenAI’s $40B raise inflated numbers in Q1. In fact, Q2 remained elevated even as foundation model developers accounted for just 3% of total capital, down from 36% in Q1’25 and 29% in Q4’24. This shift signals a broadening of venture activity beyond foundation models into the broader AI ecosystem and adjacent hard tech sectors.

With this continued momentum, annual funding is projected to reach nearly $440B, a 53% increase from 2024, pointing to a sustained recovery in venture investment.

At the same time, deal volume continues to decline, reflecting greater investor selectivity. Q2 saw just 6,028 deals — the lowest quarterly total since Q4’16. This puts 2025 on pace for around 25,000 deals, or nearly half the volume seen in 2022, even as total funding approaches similar levels.

While investors are pulling back on the number of deals, they’re deploying more capital per investment: the median deal size hit a new high of $3.5M in 2025 YTD. Rising check sizes and falling deal count underscore a shift toward fewer, higher-conviction bets.

2. Hard tech claims 6 of the top 10 largest deals

Six of the 10 largest deals in Q2’25 went to hard tech companies, which are firms building capital-intensive physical products.

CBI customers: Track the highest funding startups in Q2’25

This surge is driven by macro forces such as onshoring initiatives, clean energy investment, and the rise of physical AI, which is enabling new capabilities across robotics, autonomy, and industrial systems.

Mega-rounds ($100M+ deals) spanned multiple sectors:

• Montera Infrastructure: $1.5B for hyperscale data center solutions
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems: $800M for commercial nuclear fusion
• Neuralink: $650M for brain-computer interfaces

Geopolitical tensions are also pushing capital toward defense, where startups are securing large rounds:

• World View: $2.6B for high-altitude aerospace platforms
• Anduril: $2.5B for autonomous defense systems and defense connectivity platforms
• Helsing: $693M for AI-powered defense applications

Across the board, defense tech startups are now commanding a median revenue multiple of 17.4x, edging out AI companies at 17.1x and all other major sectors. This signals high investor confidence and competition, driving premium valuations across the defense tech sector.

With investor appetite moving toward physical infrastructure and embodied AI, the rise of hard tech represents a shift likely to define the next chapter of venture investing.

3. AI companies command funding premiums across sectors

The venture market is experiencing a pronounced “AI premium,” with median deal size for AI companies reaching $4.6M in 2025 — over $1M more than the broader market. 

But the premium isn’t just financial. AI companies also score higher on CB Insights’ Mosaic Score (success probability) and Commercial Maturity (ability to compete and partner) across most sectors, signaling stronger fundamentals and market readiness in the eyes of investors.

AI companies in auto tech — with most focused on autonomous driving — are commanding the highest premium. Their median deal size is $20.6M higher than non-AI auto tech peers, and their average Mosaic score is 99 points greater. This quarter, the largest AI auto tech deal went to Applied Intuition, which raised a $600M Series F round at a $15B valuation.

Robotics and cybersecurity follow closely, with AI firms in those sectors securing median deal sizes $10.7M and $6.4M larger than their non-AI peers.

Team pedigree is further amplifying the premium. Thinking Machines Lab — founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati alongside veterans from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Mistral AI — raised a record-breaking $2B seed round at a $10B valuation, making it the most valuable seed-stage startup ever. 

The deal reflects an increasingly common “go big or go home” investing mentality, as investors make outsized bets on high-credibility AI teams.

4. Regulatory shifts push big tech from M&A to minority investments

Big tech M&A — which includes M&A from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia — is entering a sustained downturn. Annual deal activity is projected to hit just 12 transactions in 2025, a steady decline from 66 deals in 2014. 

US regulatory tightening caused M&A activity to collapse from 30+ deals in 2022 to just 8 deals in 2023 — the steepest single-year decline on record.

CBI customers: Track big tech M&A activity

Big tech companies are adapting by taking large minority stakes, allowing them to circumvent federal antitrust review while still gaining strategic influence and access to key technologies. For example, Meta invested $14.8B in Scale — the largest funding round of Q2’25 — for a 49% stake, as did Microsoft with its recent investments in OpenAI. 

In 2025 YTD, big tech is on pace for 14 corporate minority deals, an increase from levels before the regulatory shift.

Big tech’s shift reflects broader M&A weakness across the market. Global activity has fallen 34% from 3,103 deals in Q1’22 to 2,053 deals in Q2’25, driven by high interest rates that have made financing more expensive and economic uncertainty that has made companies more cautious about acquisitions.

However, acquisitions of AI companies is one area where M&A is increasing. Activity reached record levels in Q2’25 at 177 deals — over double the 5-year quarterly average of 84 deals. This surge reflects companies’ need to acquire AI capabilities quickly rather than build them internally, as AI becomes essential for staying competitive.

While falling interest rates will help smaller deals rebound and provide a modest tailwind to overall M&A activity, we do not expect deal volumes to approach peak years. Big tech and other large corporations will remain constrained by regulatory scrutiny.

We are likely entering a new era where strategic partnerships and minority investments replace traditional M&A as a growth mechanism for major corporations.

5. CVC deals hit a 7-year low as the tariff threat looms

Corporate venture capital dealmaking has reached its lowest point in over 7 years, as CVC-backed investment totaled just $17B across 742 deals, down 8% quarter-over-quarter and representing the weakest performance since Q1’18.

CVC activity has fallen dramatically from its Q1’22 peak due to broader market pressures, including high interest rates and economic uncertainty. Tariff concerns are likely adding further burden to an already weakened market.

Despite fewer deals, median CVC-backed deal sizes have reached their highest levels since 2021. This suggests that CVCs are concentrating capital on fewer, higher-conviction investments.

CVCs are also collaborating more frequently. Deals involving 3+ CVCs reached a record high of 32% in Q2’25, reflecting both strategic necessity and market conditions: larger funding rounds in capital-intensive sectors like AI and hard tech may require multiple corporate partners to provide sufficient capital. At the same time, competition for access to the hottest technologies drives CVCs to team up rather than risk being shut out.

Breakout sectors of 2025

Below, we analyze venture funding across tech sectors to identify where investor conviction and market momentum are strongest.

Stablecoin funding is on pace to shatter its previous record

Stablecoin startups are experiencing an explosive year-over-year funding surge as stablecoins achieve mainstream adoption. Funding is projected to reach $10.2B in 2025, representing more than 10x growth from 2024.

Growing regulatory frameworks worldwide — such as the pending passage of stablecoin legislation in the US with bipartisan support — provide needed certainty for institutional investment, setting the foundation for exponential growth.

Multiple startups are taking advantage of the momentum. While the largest funding rounds occurred during the first quarter — with $2B deals for Avalon Labs and Binance — notable rounds also occurred during Q2’25, including:

• Flowdesk: $100M for digital asset trading and liquidity services
• Conduit: $36M for its cross-border business transactions platform
• Niural: $31M for an AI-enabled stablecoin and fiat payroll platform

Major financial services companies are also increasingly involved. Mastercard, Visa, and established banks are now enabling stablecoin transactions and issuing their own digital currencies, bringing institutional credibility to the space. Meanwhile, stablecoin issuers Circle and Ripple applied for banking licenses on June 30 and July 2, respectively, demonstrating their intent to operate like mainstream financial institutions.

Stablecoins are evolving beyond simple stores of value into yield-bearing tools and liquidity products. Solutions like liquidity mining, lending services, and yield-bearing stablecoins are receiving substantial investor attention. Cross-border payments companies powered by stablecoins are also gaining traction as affordable and accessible USD alternatives in emerging markets.

As regulatory frameworks solidify and institutional adoption accelerates, stablecoin companies are positioned to capture significant market share in global payments and financial infrastructure markets.

Defense tech momentum continues

Within the first two quarters of 2025, defense tech funding has already reached a new annual record of $11.1B.

The funding breakout is driven by multiple forces, including geopolitical instability and technology advancements, notably in drones and other unmanned vehicles.

Concurrently, the US Department of Defense is pushing to diversify the defense ecosystem through public-private partnerships and startup support.

The defense investor landscape is also rapidly evolving, with the number of unique investors in the space expected to increase 34% in 2025 to 950 from 710 the year prior. Traditional defense funds like Shield Capital and In-Q-Tel are now joined by generalist VCs, bringing more capital to fund a new generation of startups.

We expect continued investor interest in defense tech, as NATO recently agreed to increase defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035, adding over $400B annually in market expansion. The 1.5% earmarked for security infrastructure aligns with venture trends in AI, cybersecurity, robotics, and technologies developed for both military and civilian use cases.

Quantum tech reaches an all-time high, halfway through the year

Quantum tech is attracting significant investor interest, reaching record annual funding levels at $2.2B within the first two quarters of 2025 — an increase of 69% from 2024.

The surge follows major hardware breakthroughs from Google, IBM, and Microsoft, which may drive confidence in leading startups even though the technology still lacks practical applications that outperform classical systems. Industry leaders like Fujitsu and Quantinuum — a subsidiary of Honeywell — expect fault-tolerant quantum computers by 2030 at the earliest.

Massive investments are flowing towards various quantum applications in 2025 so far:

• PsiQuantum: $750M to build million-qubit photonic quantum computers by 2029
• QuEra Computing: $230M to accelerate fault-tolerant neutral-atom quantum systems
• Multiverse Computing: $215M to scale its quantum-inspired AI compression technology

Government support has also increased, with $1.8B in public funding announced globally in 2024. For example, Australia committed $620M to PsiQuantum, while DARPA committed up to $200M in joint funding to assess the feasibility of industrially useful quantum computers.

As quantum technologies move toward commercial viability, the combination of record private investment, substantial government backing, and technical progress positions the industry for significant growth once practical quantum advantage is achieved in commercial applications.

Corporate interest drives a surge in nuclear energy funding

Funding to nuclear energy companies is projected to reach an annual record by the end of 2025 at $5B. Massive energy requirements for AI data centers — with US data center power consumption projected to triple by 2030 — are driving corporate interest in clean baseload power.

Big tech companies are leading the charge, with investments since 2024 across both small modular reactors (SMRs) and fusion technologies:

• Amazon invested in X-energy with plans to develop over 5 GW of SMR projects by 2039; Amazon also backed Realta Fusion
• Google reached agreements with Kairos Power for up to 500 MW of nuclear power by 2030 and has also invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems and TAE Technologies.
• Microsoft reached a deal with Constellation Energy to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, while committing to purchasing fusion electricity from Helion Energy by 2028

Corporate interest has also skyrocketed, with earnings call mentions hitting record levels as executives grapple with the major power requirements for AI infrastructure.

Current and previous presidential administrations have reduced regulatory red tape for nuclear development, streamlining approval processes. The bipartisan approach creates stable regulatory support for long-term investments and should accelerate sector growth in the coming years.

As AI adoption continues, nuclear provides the only scalable solution for clean baseload power that intermittent renewables cannot match for always-on AI computing infrastructure. The combination of massive corporate demand and supportive regulatory frameworks positions nuclear for explosive growth in the years ahead.

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According to the World Bank, 90% of businesses worldwide qualify as small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs — also known as small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs), and they account for about half of global GDP. But in a Federal Reserve survey from 2023, only 34% of US-based small businesses said they currently accept digital or mobile payments, pointing to just one of the many openings for digitization in the US and abroad. 

Financial institutions and private tech companies alike are stepping up to the plate. 

Several major banks and leaders are expanding their small business services, including: PayPal, which is growing its ecosystem of SMB services; Fiserv, which is expecting revenue to double in the next 2 years for its small-merchant POS system, Clover; and Mastercard, which launched 10 new small business programs over the last year.

Meanwhile, the landscape of private tech companies developing financial solutions for SMBs continues to evolve. In the market map below, we identify 105 tech companies offering fintech tailored to SMBs across 14 different markets. We organized markets by major divisions in financial operations:

• HR: These solutions help small businesses manage employee benefits and payments. 
• Payments: Vendors in this category assist companies in managing payments both within and outside their business, integrating payment acceptance and processing into customer-facing platforms, and overseeing expenses. 
• Lending: These platforms and tools enable small businesses to access loans and other forms of financing for business growth.
• Banking: These companies help finance teams manage their businesses’ liquidity and track real-time cash positions.

Please click to enlarge.

To identify players for this market map, we included startups with a CB Insights Mosaic score (a proprietary measure of private company health and growth) of 400 or greater that raised funding since January 1, 2023. We then filtered that list based on whether companies have offerings targeting small and medium businesses. Categories are not mutually exclusive and are not intended to be exhaustive.

Key takeaways

1. Investors have concentrated SMB fintech funding on foundational solutions, like embedded payments infrastructure and spend management. Financial services infrastructure has established itself as a must-have for SMBs: embedded payments tools ($9.6B), spend management platforms ($3.5B), and enterprise cross-border payments ($3.4B) have collectively raised 77% of all funding across markets on the map since 2020. This dynamic highlights the need for SMBs to establish essential financial systems before layering new technologies on top.
2. Investors and financial institutions should focus on solutions that flexibly integrate with existing systems. Small businesses are willing to cherry-pick the solutions that will drive the highest ROI, rather than overhauling their entire tech stack. Within payments markets, accounts payable (AP) automation companies have attracted 3x more funding than AR automation companies ($2.2B vs. $733M) and, perhaps more significantly, more than 6x as many partnerships (287 vs. 44). These indicators not only point to AP automation’s clearer ROI for SMB users (who may have more payables to process than receivables), but also to SMBs’ selectiveness about where and when they invest in technology. For the tech companies themselves, emphasizing a range of integration partners will help prove the value and ease of adopting their solutions.
3. The growth in digital-native SMBs is driving early-stage growth and valuations for tech-enabled borrowing. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the 43 deals for revenue-based financing platforms since 2020 have been early-stage. The high share of early-stage activity suggests that there are still numerous entry points for disruptive fintechs, especially as the companies they serve — such as e-commerce, SaaS, and digital brands — continue to evolve. At the same time, investors are placing a high premium on revenue-based financing solutions: multiple SMB-focused companies in the market (Wayflyer, Pipe, and Clearco) are unicorns, compared to only 1 in the market for invoice finance (C2FO).

Market descriptions

HR

Earned wage access (EWA) platforms

The earned wage access (EWA) platforms market provides solutions for employees to access their earned wages before scheduled paydays, addressing financial stress and reducing reliance on high-cost credit options. These platforms integrate with existing payroll systems to verify earned wages and facilitate immediate transfers to employees’ accounts. Many providers also offer additional financial wellness tools such as budgeting assistance, savings features, and financial education resources. EWA platforms serve various industries including retail, healthcare, and manufacturing, typically targeting HR managers and payroll administrators seeking to improve employee retention and productivity.

Benefits administration

The benefits administration market provides solutions to help human resources teams manage their employee benefits programs. These platforms look across health insurance, wellness programs, and more. Providers often have features to support employee enrollment and participation analytics. The market is driven by the need for employers to attract and retain top talent, comply with government regulations, and provide a competitive and targeted benefits package.

Cash forecasting software

The cash forecasting software market uses historical data, financial algorithms, and predictive analytics to forecast future cash flows accurately. Cash forecasting software helps businesses improve cash flow visibility, identify potential cash gaps or surpluses, and mitigate liquidity risks. These solutions typically integrate with existing ERP systems, accounting software, and banking platforms to aggregate financial data. The platforms also facilitate scenario modeling, enabling organizations to simulate different financial scenarios and assess the impact on cash flows.

Enterprise cross-border payments platforms

The enterprise cross-border payments platforms market enables businesses to send and collect payments globally. Companies in this market offer currency exchange solutions that help users monitor exchange rates and hedge currency risk. Some companies also provide specialized solutions for different industries. In addition to enterprise solutions, many providers in this market also offer consumer-specific solutions.

Accounts receivable (AR) automation

The accounts receivable (AR) automation market streamlines invoicing and payment collection processes. Vendors provide APIs and software development kits that allow companies to embed accounts receivable functionalities into their enterprise resource planning software, customer relationship management systems, and other digital platforms. The tools allow automated invoicing, payment reminders and processing, cash application, credit management, and more.

Spend management platforms

The spend management platforms market enables businesses to efficiently manage and control their expenditures through integrated software solutions, including virtual corporate cards, expense management systems, procurement software, and budget tracking tools. Vendors use APIs and cloud-based platforms to integrate these solutions into existing financial and operational systems, allowing for real-time visibility into spending patterns, automated approval workflows, and enhanced compliance controls. These platforms streamline financial processes, reduce administrative burdens, and provide AI-powered insights, helping organizations optimize budgets, negotiate better terms with suppliers, and achieve cost savings.

Embedded payments infrastructure

The embedded payments infrastructure market provides API-based solutions that enable companies to integrate payment processing into non-banking digital platforms without building the infrastructure from scratch. These solutions use APIs and software development kits to embed payment functionalities into software applications, websites, IoT devices, and digital ecosystems. Companies in this market offer features including simplified integration, fraud detection, subscription management, and customized security parameters. The technology primarily serves e-commerce, SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and financial institutions looking to enhance user experience and monetize transactions.

Buy now pay later (BNPL) — B2B payments

The buy now pay later (BNPL) — B2B payments market offers flexible financing options for businesses to enhance their purchasing power and manage their working capital and cash flow by acquiring goods or services immediately and paying for them in installments over time. BNPL solutions in the B2B market provide streamlined application processes, quick approvals, and transparent terms for businesses to make purchases and manage their payments efficiently. These solutions typically include online platforms, embedded finance tools, or integrated payment systems that enable point-of-sale financing decisions. Key features include flexible payment terms, automated credit decisioning, and integration with existing procurement and financial systems to provide businesses with tailored payment plans.

Accounts payable (AP) automation

The accounts payable automation market allows businesses to streamline and automate invoice processing and payment activities. Vendors provide platforms that integrate with existing enterprise resource planning systems and accounting software through APIs and software development kits. These platforms automate invoice capture and matching, data extraction, approval workflows, and payment processing, reducing manual tasks and minimizing errors. This integration improves operational efficiency, enhances cash flow management, strengthens vendor relationships, and supports compliance with financial regulations.

Lending

Lending marketplaces

The lending marketplaces market includes online platforms that connect lenders and borrowers through digital technologies. These platforms use data analytics, automation, and AI to streamline the lending process and provide access to credit for individuals and small businesses who may be underserved by traditional financial institutions. The market serves both borrowers seeking competitive loan options and lenders looking to expand their customer base and optimize lending rates. These platforms typically offer features such as loan comparison tools, financial education resources, simplified application processes, and tailored services for specific customer segments.

Revenue-based financing platforms

The revenue-based financing platforms market offers an alternative funding approach where businesses exchange a percentage of future revenues for upfront capital without traditional equity dilution or fixed-interest debt. These platforms use proprietary algorithms and data analytics to evaluate financial health, growth potential, and creditworthiness to determine funding amounts and repayment terms. Primary users include e-commerce companies, SaaS businesses, and digital-native ventures with predictable revenue streams. Key features include automated underwriting processes, flexible repayment schedules tied to business performance, and rapid funding decisions. These solutions enable businesses to fund marketing, inventory, product development, and operations while maintaining ownership control.

Trade & supply chain finance

The trade & supply chain finance market facilitates loans and financial instruments for businesses engaged in global trade, helping them optimize cash flows and mitigate risks associated with cross-border transactions. Vendors offer digital platforms with financing solutions such as letters of credit, invoice financing, and guarantees, leveraging technologies like blockchain, AI, and APIs to streamline operations. These solutions integrate with supply chain management systems and banking ecosystems to improve transparency, enhance operational efficiency, and accelerate financial settlements, enabling businesses to strengthen trade relationships and expand globally.

Invoice finance

The invoice finance market provides technology solutions that enable businesses to access funds against their unpaid invoices. Through APIs and user-friendly software, these platforms connect companies needing immediate cash flow with funders willing to advance payments on outstanding invoices. Solutions range from dedicated invoice financing platforms to broader financial management systems with invoice finance capabilities. These technologies simplify invoice processing, enhance transparency, and expedite funding timelines while reducing paperwork burden. The market includes factoring services, invoice discounting platforms, early payment programs, and integrated financial operation systems that facilitate better cash flow management.

Treasury & cash management solutions

The treasury & cash management solutions market provides software and platforms for treasurers, CFOs, and finance teams to manage liquidity and gain real-time cash position visibility. These solutions connect directly to bank accounts, aggregate financial data, and deliver actionable insights in a centralized platform. Key capabilities include payment automation, cash flow forecasting, fraud protection, and bank connectivity APIs. The market helps organizations streamline financial operations, reduce manual processes, and enhance decision-making through automated transaction tagging and AI-powered analytics.

RELATED CB INSIGHTS RESEARCH

• State of Fintech Q1’25 Report
• The future of the customer journey: AI agents take control of the buying process
• Shopify’s next move: How the e-commerce giant is evolving into a full-stack platform for commerce and media

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In partnership with Stablecon, CB Insights has created a market map to help enterprises and investors identify high-growth markets and companies within the stablecoin ecosystem. 

After analyzing 600+ companies, we selected 172 recently funded players that demonstrate strong momentum — as measured by CB Insights’ Mosaic score, which assesses private-company health and growth potential based on funding data, personnel, market strength, and online sentiment. We then mapped these companies across 8 categories based on their primary focus.

Please click to enlarge.

CBI customers: Get data on 400+ stablecoin companies in the Expert Collection

Key takeaways

1. Stablecoins are laying the foundation for a new era of crypto-native banking

Stablecoins are solving a key obstacle to cryptocurrency adoption: volatility. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, stablecoins maintain consistent value through ties to underlying assets.

This stability has attracted major players in traditional finance: Mastercard and Visa now enable stablecoin transactions, while established banks Societe Generale and Vantage Bank have begun issuing their own stablecoins. Established blockchain infrastructure providers like Zero Hash and Fireblocks (founded in 2017 and 2018, respectively) are facilitating this mainstream adoption by providing technology geared toward enabling traditional financial institutions to integrate stablecoin capabilities.

Wallets & custodial solutions have experienced the highest average headcount growth (83%) of any market map segment over the past year. Examples include Littio and Open Settlements, which offer custodial services that store and manage stablecoins on behalf of consumers while providing traditional banking features like payments and transfers. Another notable player is KAST, a stablecoin account provider that has increased its headcount by 10x YoY (to more than 40 employees) and secured $10M in funding in December 2024. KAST offers cards compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and ATMs, and recently announced plans to evolve into a full-fledged on-chain bank.

Stablecoin issuers are also developing innovative approaches to address the limitations of USD-pegged stablecoins, such as Ampleforth’s cost-of-living-indexed stablecoins that adjust for inflation and Ethena’s synthetic stablecoins that don’t require traditional banking reserves. Stablecoin issuers represent the largest category on the market map by number of companies and have the highest average M&A probability (24%) among segments. This signals high consolidation potential as the market matures and highlights the strategic value of stablecoin issuance to established financial players.

2. Liquidity & yield use cases are transforming stablecoins from passive stores of value into high-growth financial instruments

Stablecoins are evolving into yield-bearing tools and liquidity products, expanding beyond their traditional role as safer alternatives to high-risk cryptocurrencies. For example, established stablecoin issuer Paxos recently introduced a yield-bearing stablecoin, Lift Dollar (USDL). And following its $1.1B acquisition of Bridge last fall, Stripe added payment capabilities for Bridge’s USDB stablecoin, which generates yield through backing by BlackRock money market funds.

The liquidity & yield category, which includes liquidity mining, lending services, and yield-bearing stablecoins, has attracted $2.3B in funding across 40 deals over the last 12 months — the most funding of any category. Although $2B of this was a flexible, scalable credit line for institutional crypto lender and stablecoin issuer Avalon Labs, the funding intensity signals strong investor interest in this nascent category — the liquidity & yield category has the lowest Commercial Maturity score of all markets, with companies averaging Level 2: Validating (i.e., introducing their products to the market through validation and testing).

The category’s growth potential is best exemplified by StakeStone, a cross-chain liquidity protocol that has secured 7 funding rounds since early 2024, while more than doubling its Mosaic score in just over 6 months (from 444 in November 2024 to over 900 in May 2025).

3. Cross-border payments are becoming the breakout use case for stablecoins, especially outside the US

International payments have emerged as a crucial application for stablecoins, with every company in the payments processing category supporting cross-border payments infrastructure. The role of stablecoins varies by region: in countries with robust traditional banking, they serve as specialized alternatives to fiat currency for specific use cases, while they provide more affordable and accessible USD alternatives in emerging markets.

This global appeal is reflected in investment patterns — among companies included in this market map, those based outside the US attracted more than half of all deals in the past 12 months. Major payment companies such as Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe have also entered this space through stablecoin card payments, transaction settlement, and analytics projects. This entry by established payment giants signals mainstream validation of stablecoin infrastructure and suggests that digital currency payments are moving from experimental to essential for competitive positioning in global payments.

The payments processing segment is relatively early in its commercial development, with half of the companies in this category still in the first 2 levels of Commercial Maturity (developing or piloting their products). However, these companies demonstrate significant growth potential — based on CB Insights’ estimates, we expect them to receive $454M in funding in 2025. That’s more than 10x the $45M they received in 2024, when excluding Stripe’s $694M round (the payments processor had not yet launched stablecoin payments at that point).

Market descriptions

Mosaic scores are dynamic and subject to change. Mosaic scores as of May 2025.

Analytics & monitoring

Platforms, tools, and services that track, analyze, and provide insights into stablecoin operations, transactions, and market behaviors. These solutions help users, regulators, and stakeholders understand stablecoin performance, ensure compliance, manage risk, and make data-driven decisions.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $18M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 4
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Chainalysis (861 Mosaic): Transaction monitoring and risk intelligence for blockchain companies
  • Elliptic (773 Mosaic): Transaction monitoring and analytics for stablecoin issuers
  • Coin Metrics (713 Mosaic): Blockchain data and analytics, including dedicated stablecoin coverage

Blockchain infrastructure

Fundamental technological layers, networks, and services that enable stablecoins to operate effectively across multiple blockchain environments. These infrastructure providers deliver the essential technical foundation upon which stablecoin systems are built, operated, and scaled.

The companies in this category offer critical components of the technical stack required for stablecoins to function effectively, including layer-1 blockchains, oracle networks, cross-chain messaging protocols, scaling solutions, and developer tools.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $51M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 10
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Securitize (917 Mosaic): Digital securities issuance platform for tokenization of assets, including the frxUSD stablecoin in partnership with Frax
  • Aptos Labs (866 Mosaic): Layer-1 blockchain which supports Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol and USDC on-ramp services via Stripe
  • TON (851 Mosaic): Layer-1 blockchain which supports stablecoin payments

Enterprise & B2B

These platforms, services, and solutions are specifically designed for businesses to integrate, manage, and use stablecoins within their financial operations. They frequently support use cases such as B2B payments, payroll, treasury operations, and customer-facing payment options, while managing the associated regulatory, accounting, and operational requirements.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $125M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 15
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • BVNK (844 Mosaic): B2B and B2C stablecoin payments infrastructure including an embedded wallet for cross-border fiat and stablecoin transactions
  • OwlTing (832 Mosaic): Its OwlPay solution includes wallet and fiat conversion services geared towards B2B stablecoin transactions
  • Rise (803 Mosaic): A cross-border fiat and stablecoin payroll solution

Exchanges/On & off ramps

Platforms and services that facilitate the conversion between stablecoins and other assets, including fiat currencies (e.g., USD, EUR) and other cryptocurrencies. These services provide the essential bridge between traditional financial systems and the stablecoin ecosystem.

The companies in this category include both centralized exchanges with stablecoin support and specialized on/off-ramp services designed to make it easier for users to enter and exit the stablecoin ecosystem across different regions and payment methods.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $2.3B
• Total deals within last 12 months: 9
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Binance (931 Mosaic): Crypto exchange which recently entered a strategic partnership with Circle, expanding USDC availability to consumers and adopting USDC for its corporate treasury; received a historic $2B investment in the form of stablecoin from MGX earlier this year
  • MoonPay (895 Mosaic): On- and off-ramp and crypto payments solution that recently partnered with Mastercard to enable stablecoin payments via its recent acquisition of Iron (APIs for stablecoin infrastructure)
  • Klickl (849 Mosaic): Crypto and stablecoin infrastructure including exchange, custody, payments, and off-ramp services

Issuers

Organizations and protocols that create, distribute, and manage stablecoins. These issuers are responsible for the provision and ongoing operations of stablecoins in the market.

The companies in this category represent diverse approaches to stablecoin issuance, including fiat-backed stablecoins, crypto-collateralized stablecoins, algorithmic stablecoins, and regional currency stablecoins, each with their own mechanisms for maintaining stability and addressing specific market needs.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $279M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 36
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Ripple (905 Mosaic): Established blockchain infrastructure provider that launched the RLUSD stablecoin in December 2024 and introduced it into cross-border payments in 2025 
  • Circle (903 Mosaic): Issuer of the USDC and EURC stablecoins, recently introducing a stablecoin orchestration layer for global payments
  • World Liberty Financial (871 Mosaic): Issuer of the USD1 stablecoin introduced in March 2025, which is the currency of choice for MGX’s $2B investment in Binance

Liquidity & yield

Platforms, protocols, and services that enable users to deploy stablecoins productively to earn returns, provide market liquidity, or access lending/borrowing capabilities. These solutions transform stablecoins from purely transactional instruments into yield-generating assets.

Providers range from those focused on capital preservation to more aggressive yield-seeking methods, catering to different risk appetites within the stablecoin ecosystem.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $2.3B
• Total deals within last 12 months: 40
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • StakeStone (918 Mosaic): Cross-chain liquidity protocol which recently partnered with World Liberty Financial to support USD1
  • Flowdesk (834 Mosaic): Market maker providing trading infrastructure, recently appointed to provide liquidity for Societe Generale’s EURCV stablecoin
  • Ethena (830 Mosaic): Its synthetic stablecoin USDe, backed by other cryptocurrencies, offers greater opportunities for staking/yield generation than a fiat-backed stablecoin

Payments processing

Platforms and infrastructure that facilitate the use of stablecoins for everyday commercial and personal transactions. These solutions enable businesses and individuals to send, receive, and process stablecoin payments efficiently and securely.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $187M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 23
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Stripe (929 Mosaic): Payments processor that recently rolled out stablecoin business accounts across 100 countries and partnered with Ramp on stablecoin-based corporate cards
  • Rain (857 Mosaic): Card issuance and payments platform for stablecoin transactions
  • Mesh (854 Mosaic): Crypto payments network that recently introduced crypto-to-stablecoin retail payments via Apple Pay

Wallets & custodians

Applications, platforms, and services that enable users to securely store, manage, and transact with stablecoins. These solutions range from self-custody wallets where users control their private keys to custodial services where providers manage crypto assets on behalf of users.

Approaches to stablecoin management range from hardware wallets and mobile applications for individual users to sophisticated custodial infrastructure for enterprise clients.

• Total funding within last 12 months: $237M
• Total deals within last 12 months: 19
• Top companies by Mosaic:
  • Fireblocks (912 Mosaic): Its blockchain solutions include custodial white-labeled wallets, and it recently partnered with Chainlink Labs to create a stablecoin solution for banks
  • Phantom (901 Mosaic): Multichain wallet supporting cryptocurrencies including stablecoins
  • BitGo (899 Mosaic): Offers custodial solutions, including stablecoin reserve assets management for USD1, and has stated intent to launch a stablecoin of its own

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However, some positive signals are emerging, including growing deal sizes and a pickup in M&A, with a focus on cybersecurity capabilities.

Download the full report to access comprehensive data and charts on the evolving state of fintech across sectors, geographies, and more.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Fintech dealmaking continues downward trend in 2024. Annual fintech deals and funding both dropped to 7-year lows in 2024. While deals dropped by 17% YoY to a total of 3,580, funding fell by 20% to $33.7B.
• One positive signal: bigger deals. The median fintech deal size increased to $4M in 2024 — marking a 33% jump YoY — with deal sizes rising across every major global region. Across fintech sectors, the biggest jump occurred in banking, where the median deal size rose by 70% YoY to reach $8.5M. Though fintech saw fewer deals overall in 2024, the increase in deal sizes suggests that investors are writing bigger checks for companies with compelling growth potential.
• M&A activity is also picking up. Fintech M&A exits jumped 24% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) to 189 in Q4’24, with Stripe’s $1.1B purchase of stablecoin platform Bridge marking the quarter’s largest deal. Overall, fintech saw a total of 664 M&A exits in 2024 (up 6% YoY) as financial services companies sought to diversify their capabilities and build full-service platforms.
• Mature banking companies are catching the eyes of investors. Banking saw mid- and late-stage deals rise to 38% of its total deal volume in 2024 (vs. 21% in 2023), outpacing the 4 percentage point increase in fintech more broadly. Uncertainty about new banking technology and regulatory volatility — particularly among banking-as-a-service players — is likely driving investors to more proven solutions.
• Payments tech ends 2024 as a bright spot. Five of the top 10 equity deals in Q4’24 went to companies building payments solutions, from mobile payments apps to cross-border payments enablement tools to platforms digitizing B2B payments. This concentration of large deals within payments tech reflects the ongoing push to digitize commerce and business exchanges. 

We dive into the trends below.

Fintech dealmaking continues downward trend in 2024

In 2024, annual fintech funding and dealmaking both decreased YoY, hitting 7-year lows.

However, there are signs that the fintech market is steadying. The annual decline in funding was fintech’s smallest in 3 years. Meanwhile, at the quarterly level, funding rebounded to close the year strong, increasing 11% QoQ to reach $8.5B in Q4’24.

One positive signal: bigger deals

While there are fewer fintech deals overall, deal sizes are climbing. 

Following 2 consecutive years of decline, the median deal size in fintech jumped 33% YoY in 2024.

Across fintech sectors, banking saw the biggest jump in median deal size in 2024 — a 70% YoY increase to $8.5M. 

This shift reflects increased investor selectivity in the current market. Companies that pass more rigorous due diligence are attracting larger investments, even as overall deal volume remains constrained.

CBI customers: Track 20K+ fintech companies

M&A activity is also picking up

Fintech M&A deals jumped 24% QoQ in Q4’24. 

US-based companies captured 8 of the largest 10 deals, including the top 5. Stripe’s $1.1B acquisition of Bridge was the largest of the quarter.

The quarterly increase points to broader stirrings of an M&A resurgence: for the year, fintech M&A exits rose by 6% YoY to 664 deals in 2024. 

Acquirers are boosting capabilities across functions. For instance, Stripe’s purchase of stablecoin platform Bridge gives the company a stronger standing in the reinvigorated market for digital assets and boosts its cross-border payment capabilities. The deal also emphasizes stablecoins’ growing role in driving accessibility and stability within crypto’s current wave.

Bolstering cybersecurity was also a focus for acquirers in Q4’24, pointing to financial services companies’ push to integrate fraud detection in their product offerings. For example, in November 2024, IT company N-able bought Adlumin, which deploys its solutions to financial firms, to enhance its cybersecurity capabilities. In October, Socure — specializing in digital identity verification — acquired Effectiv to enhance its AI-driven fraud detection capabilities.

Search recently funded fintech companies with high M&A probabilities

Mature banking companies are catching the eyes of investors

Early-stage deals made up a larger share of fintech investment activity in 2022-23, suggesting that investors shifted their focus toward nascent innovation requiring smaller capital commitments during the market slowdown.

The trend shifted in 2024, particularly in the banking sector. While mid- and late-stage deal share rose by 4 percentage points YoY across fintech broadly, it jumped 17 percentage points in banking. 

See 140+ high-potential mid- and late-stage startups

Recent volatility in banking-as-a-service — such as Synapse’s bankruptcy in April — and intensified regulatory scrutiny are likely driving investors to more proven solutions.

Payments tech ends 2024 as a bright spot

Five of the 10 biggest fintech deals in Q4’24 went to payments companies, capping a relatively strong quarter for the sector. Despite a YoY decline, funding to payments companies rose by 20% QoQ to $1.8B in Q4’24.

Argentina-based mobile payments company Ualá secured a $300M Series E in Q4’24, tying home equity release firm Splitero for the largest round of the quarter.

Of the top payments deals, two went to companies automating accounts payable and other aspects of B2B payments (Melio and ASAAS). The opportunity to digitize B2B payments continues to expand, especially since businesses in many geographies still rely on manual processes.

B2B payments tech market ranking

Related resources from CB Insights:

• State of Venture 2024 Report
• 15 tech trends to watch closely in 2025
• Fintech 100: The most promising fintech startups of 2024
• The generative AI in financial services market map
• Prioritizing B2B payments tech: How 9 tech-driven markets stack up across maturity and momentum

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Our 2025 Tech Trends report provides a concrete roadmap for corporate leaders to navigate some of the most important technology shifts in the year ahead.

We include specific recommendations for action so that business leaders can get ahead of the next wave of value creation.

Here is a selection of key findings from the report:

• AI agents are given money to spend: AI agents’ utility is limited until they can make transactions seamlessly. A small group of tech players is building new infrastructure to make that happen.
• The future data center arrives: With data center power usage expected to more than double by 2026, big tech companies are morphing into energy innovators to support AI workloads. There’s a huge opportunity in improving data centers’ energy efficiency.
• Investment floodgates open for RNA therapeutics: RNA therapeutics developers are pioneering new ways to treat traditionally “undruggable” diseases, with a growing focus on neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.
• AI M&A fuels the next wave of corporate strategy: AI’s share of corporate tech M&A has doubled since 2020. Tech incumbents like Nvidia, Salesforce, and Snowflake, as well as consultancies like Accenture, are rapidly acquiring AI startups to tap into enterprise demand. 
• Disease management enters a new phase with AI: AI is improving care delivery across 3 key areas of disease management: precise symptom evaluation; testing/screening for earlier disease detection (including before symptoms even appear); and finding at-risk individuals in datasets of entire patient populations. 
• Retail’s personalization imperative: Generative AI is unlocking 1:1 experiences across commerce touchpoints, with leaders like Target seeing a corresponding 3x boost in conversation rates. Personalization will become omnipresent in retailers’ offerings.
• And much more

Methodology

Our analysis relies on a wide range of CB Insights datasets, including financing and acquisition data, valuations, founding team and key people data, earnings transcripts, and more. We also leverage CB Insights’ proprietary scoring algorithms to measure business health (Mosaic) and maturity (Commercial Maturity), as well as the likelihood of acquisition (M&A Probability score). Throughout the report, we provide CB Insights customers with jumping-off points to dig deeper into the data behind the report.

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For companies interested in the future of fintech, these startups — working on everything from deploying novel AI solutions across the landscape to expanding access to financial services — should be on your radar for partnership and investment opportunities.

The list primarily includes early- and mid-stage startups driving innovation across fintech. Our research team picked winning companies based on CB Insights datasets, including deal activity, industry partnerships, team strength, investor strength, employee headcount, and proprietary Commercial Maturity and Mosaic scores. We also dug into Analyst Briefings submitted directly to us by startups.

Please click to enlarge.

Here is a summary of the 2024 Fintech 100 cohort highlights:

• The 100 winners include 13 wealth management companies, 11 in embedded finance, and 10 in insurance.
• $7.2B in equity funding raised over time, including more than $2B in 2024 so far (as of 10/23/2024).
• Nearly 50% are early-stage companies (primarily seed/angel or Series A).
• 52 companies from outside the United States, across 23 countries on 6 continents. This includes 17 companies from 11 emerging and developing economies.
• 850+ business relationships since 2022, including with industry leaders like Mastercard, State Street, and Flipkart.

Companies are categorized by their primary focus area and client base. Categories in the market map are not mutually exclusive.

CB Insights customers can interact with the entire Fintech 100 list here and view a detailed category breakdown using the Expert Collection.

2024 FINTECH 100 COHORT HIGHLIGHTS

Funding and valuations

The 2024 Fintech 100 winners have raised $7.2B across 370+ disclosed equity deals to date (as of 10/23/2024).

Gaming payments company Coda Payments and rent rewards company Bilt Rewards lead all winners in disclosed equity funding (with $715M and $560M in funding, respectively). 

In 2024 so far, this year’s winners have raised just over $2B across 72 disclosed equity deals.

Three winners have raised mega-rounds ($100M+ deals) in 2024 so far: 

• Bilt Rewards — $200M Series C, $150M Series C – II
• Akur8 — $120M Series C
• FundGuard — $100M Series C

Just 5 companies on this year’s list have reached unicorn status (a $1B+ valuation). Amid the broader venture slowdown, just one winner has hit unicorn status in 2024 so far: Pennylane, a France-based financial management and accounting platform for businesses.

Customers: explore all Fintech 100 deals

Stage breakdown and commercial maturity

Nearly half — 48 — of this year’s Fintech 100 winners are early-stage companies (primarily seed/angel or Series A).

More than 60% of the companies on the list (62) have a CB Insights Commercial Maturity score — which measures a private company’s current ability to compete for customers or serve as a partner — of 4, or Scaling. This indicates they are gaining market traction and growing clients, partners, headcount, and revenue. 

Twenty-six winners have a score of 3, or Deploying, which means they have validated ideas and are beginning commercial distribution.

Top investors

Plug and Play Ventures leads all venture capital (VC) firms, including CVC firms, in the number of winners backed. The 2024 Fintech 100 companies in its portfolio operate across financial management and accounting (Finally), capital markets (FundGuard), payment acceptance (AiFi, Fintoc), banking (Tuum), wealth management (Boldin), and payroll (WorkPay). 

Meanwhile, General Catalyst leads in the total number of investments in the 2024 Fintech 100, as it has invested 13 times across 6 companies. It has invested in Bilt Rewards, financial management & accounting firm Collective, alternative credit scoring company Nova Credit, cross-border payments platform Finom, student loan management platform Summer, and AI agent Powder.

Geographic distribution

Just over half (52) of this year’s Fintech 100 winners are based outside of the United States. The United Kingdom leads all non-US countries with 12 winners, and Canada and Singapore are tied for second with 6 companies each. 

Seventeen companies on this year’s list come from 11 emerging and developing economies (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kenya, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay). Many of these winners are focused on solutions driving financial inclusion and accessibility for groups like small businesses and consumers building their credit.

Headcount growth

This year’s Fintech 100 winners collectively employ more than 18,000 people. Median year-over-year headcount growth is more than 30%.

Bilt leads all winners with $3.1M in equity funding per employee. Embedded finance company Brim Financial, blockchain company Fnality, and Coda Payments are tied for second with $1.6M per employee.

Company health

Eighty-three of this year’s winning companies have a CB Insights Mosaic score — a proprietary measure of private company health and growth potential — of at least 700 out of 1,000 (as of 10/23/24). Compared to all private companies — fintechs or otherwise — with Mosaic scores, these 83 winners rank in the top 4% by Mosaic score. 

Bilt Rewards leads the cohort with a score of 952. Nova Credit and Arta are tied for second with 883.

Winners deploy AI across a variety of use cases

AI’s dominance in the venture market and broader tech conversations is reflected in this year’s Fintech 100 cohort. 

Several winners have developed AI solutions to automate financial services operations. For example, Alkymi and Saphyre are among the handful of companies using AI to analyze and extract data from financial documents.

But winners are also deploying AI within specific financial services sectors, including embedded finance, compliance, and insurance.

For instance, Gynger uses AI and data analytics to quickly approve and underwrite financing. The company is backed by PayPal Ventures and Google’s AI-focused venture arm Gradient Ventures. 

Meanwhile, Norm Ai offers AI agents for compliance teams, enabling them to assess content or actions against regulatory requirements. The company raised a $27M Series A round in June 2024 from investors including Bain Capital Ventures and Citi Ventures.

Delos Insurance Solutions, on the other hand, issues property insurance and analyzes satellite data using AI to identify areas with greater wildfire risk. Its founders’ backgrounds in the space industry inform their approach to data gathering via satellite.

Fintechs gear solutions toward financial inclusion and accessibility

Many of this year’s winners are focused on making financial services and technology more accessible to growing customer segments. 

Small businesses are a focus worldwide. This year’s list includes solutions like Sequoia Capital– and Founders Fund-backed Found, which offers banking for self-employed people and small business owners. Meanwhile, Pakistan-based NayaPay offers financial management for consumers as well as small businesses. Singapore-based YouTrip also has both B2C and B2B platforms for cross-border payments, focusing its B2B services on small businesses in southeast Asia. 

Companies in this year’s cohort are also targeting consumers building their financial profiles and wealth. US-based MAJORITY allows individuals to get banked in the US without social security numbers. OTO, meanwhile, offers loans for electric bike and scooter purchases in India. Banks are hesitant to finance the purchases despite strong government support for the vehicles, so the massive consumer market is turning to fintechs.

Meanwhile, companies like Bilt Rewards and CheQ are helping consumers manage their credit and build toward major purchases in different ways. Bilt converts rent payments into points that can be redeemed toward a down payment on a home, and it can also send renters’ on-time payment reports to credit bureaus. 

In India, where credit cards have lower penetration but are growing quickly, CheQ helps consumers pay off all of their credit cards and earn rewards on one digital platform. It aims to support users who are new to the credit system and offers free credit reports and tips on managing credit. The company recently announced a partnership with India’s e-commerce giant Flipkart to enable consumers to earn extra points on purchases during Flipkart’s sale event.

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However, average deal size has remained roughly stable in 2024 YTD, suggesting dealmakers are putting more money behind a select group of fintech companies.

Download the full report to access comprehensive data and charts on the evolving state of fintech across sectors, geographies, and more.

Below, we cover key takeaways from the report.

• Global fintech funding sinks to $7.3B, a 25% QoQ decline. However, Q2’24 funding was propped up in part by mega-rounds for Stripe and AlphaSense totaling $1.3B. Excluding those rounds, the decline from Q2’24 to Q3’24 would have been 13%.

• Deal volume drops 16%. Total deals for fintechs continued to decline, falling 16% from 892 in Q2’24 to 753 in Q3’24. This marks the lowest quarterly level since 2017. For comparison, fintech deal volume clocked in at nearly 1,500 two years ago, in Q3’22 — roughly double where it stands now.

• Average deal size remains stable at $12.7M. Despite deal volume declining, average deal size has remained roughly flat YTD, at $12.7M, compared to $13.2M for full-year 2023. The decline in deal volume and stable deal size indicates dealmakers narrowed their focus to fewer, higher-dollar bets.

• 52% of the top early-stage deals are in less-crowded fintech markets. Just over half of the top early-stage deals occurred in financial services markets outside the US and UK — in countries like France, India, Italy, and Kenya. Less-crowded markets like these offer more room for early-stage fintechs to find niches and grow their client bases. 

• Wealth tech funding increases by 67%, thanks to 2 $100M+ mega-rounds. Wealth tech funding increased the most of any fintech sector QoQ, from $0.6B in Q2’24 to $1.0B in Q3’24. The increase was fueled by 2 substantial deals: 
  • $242M Series F round for turnkey retirement plan provider Human Interest. 
  • $200M Series B round for Earned Wealth, a digital wealth manager targeting medical professionals.
    

ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH FROM CB INSIGHTS:

• State of Venture Q3’24 Report
• The embedded finance market ranking: Where integrated financial services are maturing, emerging, and plateauing
• The financial planning market map
• State of Fintech Q2’24 Report

The post State of Fintech Q3’24 Report appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Essential resources to understand the future of financial services:

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B2B payments tools reach cross-functionally across companies, making it not only more essential, but also more complex, to efficiently integrate these tools into workflows.

To help strategy teams prioritize B2B payments tech markets in their planning decisions, we plotted markets across 2 dimensions:

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What you need to know:

• Payments funding bounced back in Q2’24 but deal volume continued to slide. Overall, payments funding is on pace to finish the year well behind 2023.
• M&A payments deals increased in Q2’24, with B2B payments platforms standing out as common acquisition targets.

It’s been a rocky few quarters for dealmaking in payments.

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In the US, checks and cash have already declined from representing half of all B2B payments in 2019 to a projection of less than a third (32%) in 2024, according to eMarketer. In emerging markets, paper’s share of B2B transactions is likely higher, but coming down thanks to the rise of digital commerce and digital operating systems for merchants.

Companies offering B2B payments solutions are digitizing and automating formerly manual processes like creating invoices, processing payments, and analyzing payments data. Many are building platforms that consolidate the steps in the B2B payments value chain in one place, enabling faster and more transparent payments and financing between businesses. 

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Crypto prices are on the rise. Reported fraud in the market is declining. Some notable players in digital currencies are even going public.

Investors’ and finance leaders’ interest in crypto has also started to return. Executives across industries are talking about crypto again — mentions of terms related to digital currencies are back at levels prior to the crypto winter that began in 2022.

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After nearly a decade of big tech companies venturing into launching their own financial products, the major players have now pulled back. Most have shifted to roles as tech providers, broadly supporting advances in financial infrastructure.

Amazon and Google stand out in this area:

• Amazon is embedding itself in more financial transactions via partnerships, investments, and acquisitions. It’s using these relationships to reach customers across more geographies and a wider range of services. 
• Google has shifted away from providing financial services and instead is connecting its existing platforms to others’ financial offerings. The company is also investing and partnering to enable digital-first financial tools.

We mined CB Insights data on Amazon’s and Google’s investments, acquisitions, and partnerships, as well as patents and earnings transcripts, from January 2021 to July 2024 to explore how the companies are reengineering their fintech strategies.

Download the full report to see where they are making moves.

This report uses CB Insights datasets like investments, acquisitions, business relationships, earnings call insights, patents, and more. Learn more about our data here.

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However, two huge deals — for market intelligence firm AlphaSense and payments juggernaut Stripe — obscured the reality that it was another tepid quarter for the sector as a whole.

Based on our deep dive in the full report, here is the TL;DR on the state of fintech:

• Funding increases by 19% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), buoyed by 2 blockbuster deals. Quarterly funding rose in Q2’24 to $8.9B. But if it weren’t for 2 late-stage deals for Stripe ($694M) and AlphaSense ($650M), funding would have remained flat QoQ. A 16% decline in deal volume also indicates fintech investors remain cautious.​
• Average deal size decreases to $12.8M, down 4% vs. 2023. The slight decline in average deal size YTD highlights broad stagnation in fintech deal sizes. Yet, when looking at the median, deal size has ticked up from $3.1M in 2023 to $4M this year. The 29% increase could signal strength in the long tail of smaller fintech deals.
• Mid- and late-stage deal share is at 20% YTD, up from 18% in 2023. In a more favorable operating environment, investors are showing greater confidence in later-stage companies than they did in the past 2 years — especially in areas like payments and lending. In payments, mid- and late-stage rounds make up 27% of deals YTD, vs. 21% in 2023. In digital lending, mid- and late-stage deals make up 35% of deals YTD, compared to 20% in 2023. 
• 30% of the biggest early-stage deals are for digital asset companies. Crypto and blockchain-focused fintechs are receiving renewed focus, as the crypto winter thaws. Digital asset companies accounted for nearly one-third of the top 10 seed/angel and top 10 Series A rounds. The two largest early-stage deals in the crypto space went to digital asset infrastructure platforms TradeDog ($75M seed) and Biton ($44M Series A).
• US-based funding increases by 45% QoQ to $4.8B. In addition to the funding increase, the US led the world across a few metrics in Q2’24, including share of equity deals (40%) and exits (36%). Mega-rounds led the way: Nine of the 10 biggest deals in the US were worth $100M or more, the most since Q2’22. LatAm was the only other major global region with a funding increase, up by 22% to $442M.

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To meet this demand, businesses across industries are embedding financial tools — from buy now, pay later (BNPL) to insurance distribution — into their platforms. Integrating these financial services can help not only improve customer engagement, but also drive new revenue streams and loyalty in the process. 

To help strategy teams prioritize embedded finance markets in their planning decisions, we plotted markets using CB Insights’ TECH framework, which scores markets across 2 dimensions:

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Cross-border payment flows were set to hit $190T in 2023 and will approach $290T by 2030, according to FXC Intelligence. And investors are betting on early-stage companies to help them secure a slice of that projected surge in demand. 

However, cross-border payments tech is not alone in the limelight.

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But when it comes to leaders’ investments and partnerships, cross-border payments expansion and digital wallet integration continue to dominate. 

A newer focus has also emerged: crypto. Though not discussed in their earnings calls, payments leaders are reengaging with digital currencies after pulling back in recent years.

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Broadly, these solutions integrate financial tools into non-financial services. Building them into digital experiences ensures consumers and partners remain there for every part of the customer journey.  

The benefits are drawing businesses across industries to integrate financial tools into their platforms. For instance, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms, which help companies offer features including account opening and deposits, will draw $36B in global revenue in 2024 from account and card fees. That figure is set to grow 2.5x by 2028 to reach $94B, per Juniper Research.

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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called AI “the single most important moment in the history of the technology industry” in the company’s most recent earnings call. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said, in his April 2024 letter, “we are completely convinced the consequences [of AI] will be extraordinary.” 

Others are hyper-focused on AI’s potential to drive new efficiencies and product development. Big pharma companies are pushing ahead with AI-powered drug discovery collaborations, with the goal of accelerating drug development timelines. Payments giants, meanwhile, are leveraging AI to fight back against a wave of fraud.  

Much of the hype around recent advances has yet to translate to revenue. No AI-discovered drug has been approved yet for sale (though Insilico Medicine brought the first drug fully generated by AI into human trials in 2023), and Salesforce acknowledged its latest AI push would not have a material impact on its revenue this year. 

But the promise of future opportunities — and the perceived risk of inaction — is driving leaders to make moves now that could eventually reshape some of the world’s biggest industries. Our 70-slide report surveys the AI strategies of the following companies:

• Financial services & insurance: JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth Group
• Enterprise tech: Oracle, Salesforce
• Pharma: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson
• Industrials: Toyota, Siemens

Using the CB Insights technology intelligence platform, we analyzed signals like investment & partnership activity, executive chatter in earnings transcripts, patents, and more to understand their efforts. Download the full report to see them all. 

Largest companies based on market cap (as of 4/15/2024). Our analysis excludes big tech, semiconductor developers, and state-owned companies.

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Fintech deal volume, on the other hand, increased for the first time since Q1’23.

Based on our deep dive below, here is the TL;DR on the state of fintech:

• Fintech funding falls 16% QoQ to its lowest quarterly level since 2017. Quarterly funding declined to $7.3B in Q1’24, counter to the 11% rebound in the broader venture market. That said, fintech deals increased by 15% QoQ as investors focus on writing smaller checks.
  
  
• Average deal size YTD in fintech is $11.1M, down 18% vs. $13.6M in full-year 2023. A dearth of blockbuster deals is driving the decline: In Q1’24, there were just 12 mega-rounds (deals worth $100M or more) representing 26% of total funding — the lowest share since Q2’23, when it hit 23%. Nevertheless, these rare deals can reach a massive scale: the biggest fintech round in the quarter was UK-based challenger bank Monzo‘s $431M Series I deal — worth 6% of the global funding total. 
• Mid- and late-stage deals make up 20% of deals YTD, up from 18% in full-year 2023, as investors look to startups with more established track records. So far this year, investors are favoring later-stage companies to a greater degree than the past 2 years. The shift is most pronounced within specific sectors. In payments, for instance, mid- and late-stage deals make up 29% of deals YTD, vs. 21% in 2023. In digital lending, mid- and late-stage deals make up 40% of deals YTD, nearly double the 2023 total.
• Banking startups have a billion-dollar quarter. Banking funding doubled in Q1’24 to reach $1B across 38 deals. Five of the top 10 banking deals in the quarter were late-stage, and 2 were mega-rounds of $100M+. Besides the Series I deal for Monzo, Germany-based banking-as-a-service company Solaris raised a $104M Series F round.
• Europe fintech funding increases 22% QoQ to $2.2B. Europe was the only major global region to see fintech funding increase in Q1’24. The continent also led all regions with 37% of exits in the quarter. Meanwhile, funding declined 11% QoQ to $3.3B in the US, which still led all regions in total fundraising.

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