In the last six years, the corporate charge card market (see definition below) has seen the launch of 3 major digital players (Ramp in 2019, Brex in 2017, and Divvy in 2016) that are already multi-unicorns. In addition, Expensify (founded in 2008), went public in Nov 2021 and is now worth $700M (though it was valued at nearly $5B shortly after its IPO).
Below is a list of the 16 challenger business credit cards currently active in the United States. Two have been acquired by large banks in 2021 (Capital One bought Lola and US Bancorp acquired Bento for Business) and will stay on this list as long as they operate as independent brands.
Challenger of the Month*
Website (acquired by Bill.com) | HQ: Utah | Founded: 2016 | Valuation: $2.5B (June 2021 exit) | Raised $418M ($165M since Jan 2021) | Website visits (Mar 2023): 440,000 | Employees: 443 | Articles: 77 | Linkedin: 33,000 followers
Why do Divvy customers love it so much?
✓ No annual fees ✓ Flexible rewards ✓ Free-to-use software platform ✓ Stable credit lines ✓ Automated expense management ✓ As many physical & virtual cards as you need ✓ Budgets with built-in spend controls ✓ Real-time transaction tracking ✓ Integrations with apps you use everyday
NEW: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21) | Equity crowdfunding (7)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Leading USA Digital Small Business Charge Cards (updated 13 April 2023)
ranked by FAB score (Fintech Attention Barometer**)
Rank | Was | Company | FAB Score | Reviewed | Founded | HQ | Funding ($M)*** | Visits (Mar ’23) |
SP* | Divvy (Bill.com) | 208 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | Utah | $418 | 440,000 | |
1 | 1 | Ramp | 868 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | NYC | $1,360 | 1,000,000 |
2 | 2 | Expensify | 460 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2008 | SF | $401 | 1,400,000 |
3 | NEW | Spendesk | 219 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | Paris | $312 | 420,000 |
4 | 3 (t) | Divvy (Bill.com) | 208 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | Utah | $418 | 440,000 |
5 | 3 (t) | Jeeves | 192 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | NYC | $368 | 31,000 |
6 | 5 | Airbase | 136 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2017 | SF | $252 | 95,000 |
7 | 6 | Bonsai | 133 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | SF | $0.1 | 660,000 |
8 | NEW | Parker | 92 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | NYC | $157 | 46,000 |
9 | 7 | Tribal Credit | 71 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | SF | $143 | 9,000 |
10 | 9 | Center | 39 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2018 | Seattle | $70 | 11,000 |
11 | 8 | Teampay | 38 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | NYC | $80 | 23,000 |
12 | 10 (t) | Karat | 37 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | SF | $46 | 58,000 |
13 | 10 (t) | Bento for Business (US Bank) | 29 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2014 | SF | $25 | 120,000 |
14 | 12 | PEX Card | 16 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2007 | NYC | $4.9 | 110,000 |
15 | 14(t) | Dash.fi (was FunnelDash) | 6 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2016 | Austin | $3.7 | 15,000 |
16 | 14(t) | Profit (was Swipedom) | 5 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | NYC | $0.5 | 2,300 |
17 | 14(t) | Comcard | 4 | 13 Apr ’23 | 2019 | LA | $0.2 | 1,600 |
Source: Compiled by FintechLabs, 13 April 2023, from Crunchbase, SEMrush, SimilarWeb
“Was” = rank on 20 Feb 2023
Notes:
*Sponsor: FintechLabs may receive referral revenues or sponsorships from issuers. This does not impact their FAB score but does impact placement on the site.
**FAB score = Fintech Attention Barometer, a proprietary measure of company size calculated by Fintech Labs. Inputs primarily include funding, website traffic and employee count.
***Funding includes both equity and debt amounts (millions of U.S. dollars)
Definition: Charge cards require the balance to be paid in full each month; credit cards allow the balance to be rolled over, often at a relatively high interest rate).
Profiles: Challenger SMB Charge Card Issuers
1. Ramp
FAB Score = 868 (down 20 since Feb 2023)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2019
– Valuation: $8.1B (based on Feb 2022 round) <<< Highest
– Raised $1.4B total <<< Highest
– Raised $1.3B since Jan 2021 (Crunchbase) <<< Highest
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 1.0M (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 464 (Pitchbook, down 8 since Feb) <<< Highest
– Articles: 65 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 68,800 followers (577 employees)
– G2: 4.7 (1,320 reviews)
2. Expensify
FAB Score = 460 (down 20 since Feb 2023)
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2008
– Raised $401M ($363 since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Market cap: $670M (NASDAQ:EXFY)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 1.4M (SimilarWeb) <<<< Highest
– Employees: 138 (Pitchbook, down 56)
– Articles: 394 (Crunchbase) <<<< Highest
– Linkedin: 13,200 followers (191 employees)
– TrustRadius: 8.0 (334 reviews)
NEW 3. Spendesk
FAB score = 219 (NEW)
– HQ: Paris
– Founded: 2016
– Raised: $312M
– Website traffic: 420,000 (Mar ’23, SimilarWeb)
4. Divvy (acquired by Bill.com)
FAB Score = 208 (up 8)
– HQ: Utah
– Founded: 2016
– Valuation: $2.5B (June 2021 exit)
– Raised $418M ($165M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 440,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 443 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 81 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 33,300 followers (483 employees)
– Trustpilot: 2.6 (393 reviews)
5. Jeeves
FAB Score = 192 (down 8)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $368M ($363M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 31,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 237 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 23 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 19,300 followers (239 employees)
– Trustpilot: 3.8 (49 reviews)
6. Airbase
FAB Score = 136 (up 5)
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2017
– Raised $252M ($221M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 95,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 273 (Pitchbook, unchanged)
– Articles: 204 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 39,200 followers (292 employees)
– G2: 4.8 (1,315 reviews) <<< Highest
7. Bonsai
FAB Score = 133 (up 8)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2016
– Raised: $120,000+ (Crunchbase)
– Website traffic: 660,000 (Mar 2023, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 32 (Linkedin, down 2)
– Articles: 8 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin followers: 2,200 (34 employees)
– Trustpilot score: 4.7 (380 reviews) <<< Highest Trustpilot score
NEW 8. Parker
FAB Score = 92 (new)
Founded: 2019
HQ: NYC
Raised: $157M in 2023
Website visits: 46,000 (Mar 2023, SimilarWeb)
9. Tribal Credit
FAB Score = 71 (down 10)
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $143M ($134M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 9,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 400 (Pitchbook, unchanged)
– Articles: 15 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 23,600 followers (299 employees)
– Trustpilot: No reviews
10. Center
FAB Score = 39 (down 1)
– HQ: Bellevue, WA
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $69.3 including $64.3M since Jan 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 11,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 133 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 2 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,100 followers (150 employees)
– G2: 4.6 (258 reviews)
11. TeamPay
FAB Score = 38 (down 5)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $79,8 (includes $58.8 since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors (Mar 2023): 23,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 94 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 11 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 3,600 followers (76 employees)
– G2 rating: 4.4 (161 reviews)
12. Karat
FAB Score = 37 (up 6)
– HQ: LA
– Founded: 2019
– Raised: $45.6 ($41 since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 58,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 51 (Pitchbook, down 3)
– Articles: 4 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 4,600 followers (46 employees)
– Trustpilot: No reviews
13. Bento for Business(acquired by US Bank, Aug 2021)
FAB Score = 29 (down 2)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2007
– Raised $24.5M ($6M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 120,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 43 (Pitchbook, plus 11)
– Articles: 42 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 1,800 followers (43 employees)
– Trustpilot: 2.0 (102 reviews)
14. PEX Card
FAB Score = 16 (down 4)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2007
– Raised $4.9M ($0 in past 12 months) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 110,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 86 (Pitchbook, down 3)
– Articles: 2 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 9,000 followers (86 employees)
– Trustpilot: No reviews
15. Dash.fi (was FunnelDash)
FAB Score = 6 (up 2)
– HQ: Austin
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $3.7 ($3.2M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 15,000 (SEMrush)
– Employees: 16 (LinkedIn, down 3)
– Articles: 0 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 340 followers (16 employees)
– G2: 4.5 (63 reviews)
16. Profit (was Swipedom) (acquired by Paymentus)
FAB Score = 5 (up 1)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2019
– Raised $1.5M (including $1M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 2,300 (SEMrush)
– Employees: 9 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 4 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: NA
– Trustpilot: No reviews
17. Comcard
FAB Score = 4 (unchanged)
– HQ: LA
– Founded: 2019
– Raised $200k (prior to 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 1,600 (SEMrush)
– Employees: 4 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 1 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 94 followers (4 employees)
– Reviews: NA
Not ranked (focusing on larger businesses, enterprises or cards as a service)
Brex
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2017
– Valuation: $12B (based on Oct 2021 round)
– Raised $1.46B ($725M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 1.2M (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,150 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 343 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 110,000 followers (1,275 employees)
– Trustpilot: 3.3 (559 reviews)
Lola (acquired by Capital One, 2021, separate brand discontinued 2023)
– HQ: Boston
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $81.7M (prior to 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 6,300 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 57 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 4 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,700 followers (18 employees)
– Trustpilot: 4.1 (215 reviews)
Mercantile
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2021
– Raised $22M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 10,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Articles: 4 (Crunchbase)
– Employees: 11 (Pitchbook)
– Linkedin: 275 followers (29 employees)
– No Trustpilot profile
Rho
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $205M ($200M since Jan 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Mar 2023): 96,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 198 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 21 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 5,600 followers (202 employees)
– Trustpilot: No reviews