The Information just published its first ranking of hot startups called: TI50. The subscription-based publication has become one of the pre-eminent tech publications since its founding in 2013. I’ve been a customer since the beginning and can vouch for the thoroughness of its research.
The 2020 list of 50 global startups is divided into 6 categories and fintech ended up with 7, or about 15% of the total. Sounds about right.
Note: They limited the list to newer “pre-unicorn” companies. Startups founded in the last 3 years OR that had raised less than $100M. And to keep it interesting, they excluded startups that had already attained unicorn status.
The sectors:
- China – 11 startups
- Enterprise AI – 10 startups
- B2B – 10 startups
- Fintech – 7 startups
- Consumer – 6 startups
- Media – 6 startups
Fintech list:
Melio pitch (3 minutes)
1. Melio Payments
Description: B2B payments
HQ: NYC
Founded: 2018 (in stealth until Sep 2020)
Raised: $144M @$700M valuationTraction: $10M run rate
Founders: Matan Bar, Ilan Atias, and Ziv Paz
Company links: Website | Twitter | Crunchbase | Linkedin
Newfront explainer (90 seconds)
2. Newfront Insurance
Insurance brokerage automation
HQ: San Francisco
Founded: 2017
Traction: 2020 revenue 2x that of 2109
Raised:$108M @$500M valuation
Founders: Spike Lipkin, Gordon Wintrob
Company links: Website | Crunchbase | Linkedin
Third-party review of Trade Republic (11.5 mins)
3. Trade Republic
Description: Free stock trading app
HQ: Berlin
Founded: 2015
Raised: $92M
Traction: $60M run rate
Founders: Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, Marco Cancellieri
Company links: Website | Twitter | Crunchbase | Linkedin
Alloy’s 2017 demo at Finovate’s FinDEVR conference (12 minutes)
4. Alloy
Description: Anti-fraud technology for banks and financial companies
HQ: NYC
Founded: 2015
Raised: $58M @$220M valuation
Traction: Customers include: Radius Bank, Brex, Evolve Bank, Marqeta
Founders: Tommy Nicholas, Laura Spiekerman, Charles Hearn
Company links: Website | Twitter | Linkedin | Crunchbase
2019 pitch at 500 Startups demo day (2.5 minutes)
5. Chipper Cash
Description: P2P remittance platform focused on Sub-Saharan Africa
HQ: San Francisco
Founded: 2017
Raised: $50M @$100M+ valuation
Traction: $30M revenue run rate
Founders: Ham Serunjogi, Maijid Moujaled
Company links: Website | Linkedin | Crunchbase
Nova Credit’s demo at the 2017 Fintech Innovation Lab demo day (7 minutes)
6. Nova Credit
Description: Provides U.S. equivalent credit score for immigrants
HQ: San Francisco
Founded: 2016
Raised: $70M
Traction: Revenue up 3.5x YOY in 2020
Founders: Loek Janssen, Nicky Goulimis, Misha Esipov
Company links: Website | Twitter | Linkedin | Crunchbase
Interview with Stedi founder Zack Kanter (audio only, 49 minutes, 11 Aug 2020)
7. Stedi
Description: Software for exchanging purchase orders and invoices among businesses
HQ: Denver, CO
Founded: 2017
Raised: $72M @$200M+
Founder: Zack Kanter
Company links: Website | Linkedin | Crunchbase
