Companies with a significant volume of credit/debit card payments rely heavily on payment processors to keep them afloat. Downtime equals lost revenue, so it’s not a function easily entrusted to a startup. That’s why there are fewer players in this category, and the three established ones (Adyen, Square, Stripe) continue to dominate the U.S. SMB market for third-party solutions. And notably, 2 of the 3 (Adyen, Square) have gone public, further improving trust.
(Note: We exclude the payment arms Amazon or Shopify here since they primarily serve their own marketplaces).
Interestingly, 4 of the 9 startups were launched in the past 4 years. But those 4 are much smaller with combined website traffic of under 200,000 per month. In comparison, the big 3 each have more than 1 million visits each day!
Years since founding:
10 to 20 years >>> 3 startups
5 to 9 years >>> 2 startups
1 to 4 years >>> 4 startups
Note: We divided the payment providers into four categories:
- Charge card and expense management (see list here)
- Bill payments and/or invoicing specialists (list here)
- Payment processors (below)
- Subscription management platforms (list here)
NEW: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33)Â |Â SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7)Â | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Top U.S. Payment Processing Challengers**
(ranked by FAB score**)
| Rank | Was (4/23) |
Company | FAB Score** | Reviewed | Founded | HQ | Total Funding ($M)*** | Visits (May ’23) |
| 1 | 1 | Stripe | 11,050 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2010 | SF | $ 8,700 | 58,600,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Block/Square | 5,130 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2009 | SF | $ 866 | 40,300,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Adyen | 4,190 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2006 | Amsterdam | $ 1,366 | 32,400,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Balance | 226 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2020 | Tel Aviv | $ 431 | 34,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Nium | 133 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2015 | Singapore | $ 288 | 140,000 |
| 6 | 7 | PaymentCloud | 85 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2016 | LA | $ 45 | 480,000 |
| 7 (t) | NEW | Helcim | 28 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2020 | Calgary, Canada | $ 12 | 130,000 |
| 7 (t) | 8 | Link | 28 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2021 | SF | $ 30 | 49000 |
| 9 | 9 | Chargezoom | 14 | 29 Jun ’23 | 2019 | LA | $ 12 | 27,000 |
Source: FintechLabs, 29 June 2023 using data from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, Pitchbook
*Our business model depends on revenue from referrals and sponsors. When you see a referral link in the URL, we may earn a fee when a new account is started (thanks!). This can improve visibility on our website, but does not impact the company’s FAB score.
** The FAB score, Fintech Attention Barometer, is a proxy for the overall size of a private company since they typically do not release traditional metrics (# customers, deposits, AUM, etc). The score is based on VC funding, website traffic, mobile downloads, and the number of employees. It’s a work in progress, so expect changes in the formula.
***Funding invested into the company as either equity or debt.
Challenger Payment Providers in the United States
1. Stripe
FAB Score = 11,400 (up 700 from April)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $8.7B including $6.5B in 2023 and $600M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 58.6 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 8,020 (Pitchbook), up 30 since April
– Articles: 3,800 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 661,000 followers (8,002 employees, up 240)
– TrustPilot rating: 3.1 (12,000 reviews)
2. Block/Square
FAB Score = 5,130 (up 600)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2009
– Went public Nov 2015 (NYSE:SQ) at $2.9B valuation
– Raised $870M including $11M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Revenue: $17.5B TTM
– Market cap: $38.8B (29 June 2023)
– Website visits: 40.3M (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 12,400 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Article citations: 8,500 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 515,000 followers (7,172 employees, up 235)
– Rating: 4.4 (3,970 reviews per TrustPilot)
3. Adyen
FAB Score = 4,190 (down 340)
– HQ: Amsterdam
– Founded: 2006
– Went public June 2018
– Raised $1.4B all prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Market cap: $48.6B (29 June 2023)
– Revenues: $7.4B TTM (Yahoo Finance)
– Website visits: 32.4M (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 3,330 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 845 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 199,000 followers (4,196 employees, up 256)
– Rating: 4.7 (2,830 reviews per FeaturedCustomers)
4. Balance
FAB Score = 226 (up 2)
– HQ: Tel Aviv
– Founded: 2020
– Raised: $431M including $416M in 2022, $15M all in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 34,000 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 96 (Pitchbook), up 9
– Articles: 27 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,000 followers (98 employees, up 5)
– Rating: 5.0 (Note: Only 5 reviews per Capterra)
5. Nium
FAB Score = 133 (down 2)
– HQ: Singapore
– Founded: 2015
– Raised $288M including $200M in 2021, $13M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 140,000 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 945 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 196 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 166,000 followers (1,027 employees, up 79)
– Rating: INA
6. PaymentCloud
FAB Score = 85 (up 30)
– HQ: LA (Sherman Oaks)
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $45M including $35M in 2022, $10M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 480,000 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 86 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 10 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 1,800 followers (87 employees, down 1)
– Rating: 4.6 (16 reviews per Capterra)
7 (tie) Helcim
FAB Score: 28 (NEW)
HQ: Calgary, Canada
Founded: 2020
Raised: $ 12M (Crunchbase)
Website visits: 130,000 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
Employees: 145 (Pitchbook)
Article citations: 14 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 7,600 followers (138 employees)
Trustpilot: 4.3 (274 reviews)
7 (tie). Link
FAB score = 28 (up 2)
HQ: SF
Founded: 2021
Funding: $30M, including $20M in 2023, $10M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
Article citations: 2 (Crunchbase)
Website visits: 49,000 (March 2023, SimilarWeb)
Employees: 40 (Pitchbook), unchanged
Linkedin: 1,400 followers (57 employees, up 22)
9. Chargezoom
FAB Score = 14 (up 3)
HQ: LA (Irvine)
Founded: 2019
Funding: $12M including $10M in 2022, $2M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
Web visits: 27,000 (May 2023, SimilarWeb)
Employees: 17 (Pitchbook), unchanged
Article citations: 11 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 2,100 followers (18 employees, up 7)
No longer accepting new business
Fast (winding down business)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2019
– Raised $125M including $102M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 210,000 (May 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 400 (Pitchbook), unchanged
– Articles: 110 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 22,300 followers
– Rating: 4.5 (2,870 reviews per TrustPilot)
Note: We excluded PayPal from because they are more of an enterprise solution, and less importantly, was founded in 1998, so a little old/established for a “challenger” list.
