At FintechLIVE, we maintain a list of 21st-century fintech unicorns* updated monthly (full list here). In December, we added 6 new unicorns, and lost one, ending at 125. The total value is now $1.25 trillion up from $1.1 trillion last month.

Unicorn count:

Beginning = 120
+ 4 born this month (PhonePE, eToro, Creditas, GoCardless)
+ 2 classified as fintech this month (Shopify, PingPong)
– 1 that dropped below the one-billion mark (Sezzle)
___________________
Total = 125

Total valuation = $1.25 trillion

New in December:

Newborns:

  • PhonePE: The Indian digital wallet platform was spun out by Flipkart in December at a valuation of $5.5B making it the 6th Indian fintech unicorn, and second most valuable. PhonePE is tied for 32nd most valuable fintech of the century.
  • eToro: While we suspected it was worth more than a billion for several years, we finally received confirmation in a secondary offering valuing the options trading platform at $2.5B. The long-time Finovate Europe favorite has roots in Israel but is headquartered in the UK, it becomes the 11th fintech unicorn based in the UK, and the 6th most valuable. The startup is tied for 59th most valuable in the world.
  • Creditas: The Brazilian lending platform surpassed the billion-dollar mark with a massive $250M round in December valuing it at $1.8B. The startup becomes the 5th Brazilian unicorn, and third most valuable. Overall it is tied for 70th most valuable in the world.
  • GoCardless: The UK payments company hit the $1B mark in December based on a new $95M round.

Newly recognized this month:

  • Shopify: The Canadian e-commerce giant has been a unicorn since at least 2013. However, we did not classify it as a fintech since so much of its revenue is payments related. The company is also moving into deposit gathering using Stripe’s new treasury program. The publicly-traded company was valued at $137B on Dec 31, making it the 3rd most valuable 21st-century fintech, trailing just PayPal and Ant.
  • PingPong: The Chinese payments company was valued at $1.5B in a March 2019 round.

Full Fintech Unicorn List
(values as of 1 Jan 2021)

Rank Company $B Value Value Date Founded Country
1 PayPal 234 31-Dec-2020 1998 United States
2 Ant Technology 150 2018 round 2014 China
3 Shopify 137 31-Dec-2020 2004 Canada
4 Square 97.8 31-Dec-2020 2009 United States
5 Adyen 69.9 31-Dec-2020 2006 Netherlands
6 Lufax 36.2 31-Dec-2020 2011 China
7 Stripe 35.0 April 2020 round 2010 United States
8 Afterpay 33.8 31-Dec-2020 2014 Australia
9 Stone 25.8 31-Dec-2020 2013 Brazil
10 Lakala 23.9 31-Dec-2020 2004 China
11 WeBank 21.2 Nov 2018 transaction 2014 China
12 Xero 21.0 31-Dec-2020 2006 New Zealand
13 One97 (PayTM) 16.0 Nov 2019 round 2010 India
14 Chime 14.5 Sep 2020 round 2013 United States
15 Robinhood 11.7 Sep 2020 round 2013 United States
16 Bill.com 11.1 31-Dec-2020 2006 United States
17 Nuvei 10.8 31-Dec-2020 2003 Canada
18 Klarna 10.6 Sep 2020 round 2005 Sweden
19 Nubank 10.0 July 2019 round 2013 Brazil
20 Ripple 10.0 Dec 2019 round 2012 United States
21 Coinbase 8.0 Oct 2018 round 2012 United States
22 Jiedaibao 7.8 Jan 2016 round 2014 China
23 OneConnect (PingAn) 7.7 31-Dec-2020 2015 China
24 Credit Karma 7.1 Exit 2007 United States
25 Lemonade 6.9 31-Dec-2020 2015 United States
26 Q2 Holdings 6.8 31-Dec-2020 2004 United States
27 nCino 6.7 31-Dec-2020 2012 United States
28 Greensill 6.0 Nov 2019 round 2011 United Kingdom
29 Trustly 5.9 Estimate based on 2021 IPO value 2008 Sweden
30 Root Insurance 5.8 Oct 2020 IPO 2016 United States
31 Duck Creek Software 5.6 31-Dec-2020 2000 United States
32 Checkout.com 5.5 June 2020 round 2012 United Kingdom
33 PhonePe 5.5 Dec 2020 spinout 2015 India
34 Revolut 5.5 Feb 2020 round 2015 United Kingdom
35 HealthEquity 5.4 31-Dec-2020 2002 United States
36 Plaid Technologies 5.3 Exit 2012 United States
37 Affirm 5.0 TechCrunch Aug 2020 2012 United States
38 TransferWise 5.0 June 2020 secondary 2011 United Kingdom
39 Toast 4.9 Feb 2020 round 2011 United States
40 Virtu Financial 4.9 31-Dec-2020 2008 United States
41 Marqeta 4.3 May 2020 round 2010 United States
42 SoFi 4.3 May 2019 round 2011 United States
43 Better.com 4.0 Sep 2020 round (unconfirmed) 2016 United States
44 Cardlytics 3.9 31-Dec-2020 2008 United States
45 Gusto 3.8 July 2019 round 2011 United States
46 Tinkoff Bank 3.8 31-Dec-2020 2006 Russia
47 Assurance 3.5 Exit 2016 United States
48 N26 3.5 May 2020 round 2013 Germany
49 Oscar Health 3.2 Mar 2018 round 2012 United States
50 China UnionPay 3.0 Per Crunchbase 12/19 2002 China
51 Circle Internet Financial 3.0 May 2018 round 2013 United States
52 Devoted Health 3.0 May 2020 fundraising 2017 United States
53 GreenDot 3.0 31-Dec-2020 1999 United States
54 OVO 2.9 Mar 2019 round 2017 Indonesia
55 OakNorth 2.8 May 2019 round 2015 United Kingdom
56 Verafin 2.8 Exit Nov 2020 2003 Canada
57 Brex 2.6 June 2020 round 2017 United States
58 Toss 2.6 Aug 2020 round 2011 South Korea
59 eToro 2.5 Dec 2020 secondary 2007 United Kingdom
60 PineLabs 2.5 Dec 2020 round 1998 India
61 Lifelock 2.3 Exit 2005 United States
62 iZettle 2.2 Exit 2010 Sweden
63 Avant 2.0 Sep 2015 round 2012 United States
64 AvidXchange 2.0 Jan 2020 round 2000 United States
65 FirstP2P 2.0 Per Crunchbase 12/19 2013 China
66 Tipalti 2.0 Oct 2020 round 2010 United States
67 Waterdrop 2.0 Aug 2020 round 2016 China
68 Zenefits 2.0 May 2015 round 2013 United States
69 Airwallex 1.8 Apr 2020 round 2015 Australia
70 BillDesk 1.8 Nov 2018 round 2000 India
71 Creditas 1.8 Dec 2020 round 2012 Brazil
72 Blend 1.7 Aug 2020 round 2012 United States
73 Carta 1.7 May 2019 round 2012 United States
74 Wefox 1.7 Dec 2019 round 2015 Germany
75 Zuora 1.7 31-Dec-2020 2007 United States
76 Mercury 1.7 Exit 2001 United States
77 Monzo 1.6 May 2020 round 2015 United Kingdom
78 Judo Bank 1.6 Dec 2020 round 2016 Australia
79 Fawry 1.5 31-Dec-2020 2008 Egypt
80 GoHealth 1.5 Exit 2001 United States
81 Hippo 1.5 July 2020 round 2015 United States
82 PingPong 1.5 Mar 2019 round 2015 China
83 PolicyBazaar 1.5 May 2019 round 2008 India
84 Remitly 1.5 July 2020 round 2011 United States
85 WorldRemit 1.5 Bloomberg article about acquistion of SendWave 2010 United Kingdom
86 CGTZ 1.4 June 2018 round 2013 China
87 BillTrust 1.3 SPAC estimated early 2021 2001 United States
88 Metromile 1.3 Nov 2020 SPAC (proposed) 2011 United States
89 Atom Bank 1.3 July 2019 round 2014 United Kingdom
90 Clover Health 1.2 Jan 2019 round 2013 United States
91 dLocal 1.2 Sep 2020 round 2016 Uruguay
92 Figure 1.2 Dec 2019 round 2018 United States
93 Galileo 1.2 Exit 2000 United States
94 Greenlight 1.2 Sep 2020 round 2014 United States
95 Rapyd 1.2 Dec 2019 round 2016 United Kingdom
96 Deposit Solutions 1.1 Sep 2019 round 2011 Germany
97 Cayan 1.1 Exit 1998 United States
98 Tradeshift 1.1 May 2018 round 2009 United States
99 C2FO 1.0 Apr 2019 round 2008 United States
100 ChromeRiver 1.0 Exit 2007 United States
101 Dave 1.0 June 2019 round 2016 United States
102 EBANX 1.0 Oct 2019 round 2012 Brazil
103 Expensify 1.0 Estimate based on $100M ARR 2008 United States
104 Fast 1.0 Oct 2020 rumors 2019 United States
105 Flywire 1.0 Feb 2020 round 2011 United States
106 HighRadius 1.0 Jan 2020 round 2006 United States
107 Interswitch 1.0 Nov 2019 round 2002 Nigeria
108 LendingHome 1.0 Mar 2018 round 2014 United States
109 Liquid 1.0 Apr 2019 round 2013 Japan
110 Mollie 1.0 Sep 2020 round 2004 Netherlands
111 MoneyLion 1.0 July 2019 round 2013 United States
112 Neon Pagamentos 1.0 Estimate 2016 Brazil
113 Next Insurance 1.0 Oct 2019 round 2016 United States
114 Numbrs 1.0 Aug 2019 round 1999 Switzerland
115 Payoneer 1.0 Dec 2017 round 2005 United States
116 Personal Capital 1.0 Exit 2009 United States
117 RazorPay 1.0 Oct 2020 round 2014 India
118 Riskified 1.0 Nov 2019 round 2012 United States
119 Upgrade 1.0 June 2020 round 2016 United States
120 Varo Money 1.0 Estimate 2015 United States
121 WealthSimple 1.0 Oct 2020 round 2014 Canada
122 WeLab 1.0 Dec 2019 round 2013 HongKong
123 GoCardless 1.0 Dec 2020 round 2011 United Kingdom
124 Finicity 1.0 Exit 1999 United States
125 Bright Health 1.0 Nov 2019 round 2015 United States

 


*To qualify, a company must have been founded in 2000 or later*** and have its primary business related to financial services including banking, savings, lending, investing, insurance, wealth management, SMB accounting and payroll. We do not include health insurance companies. Services can be sold directly to consumers or through financial institutions or other companies. Full list here.
** If you know any missing unicorns, please email jim@fintechlabs.com
***There are two exceptions started in the 1998/1999 timeframe, PayPal and Finicity.