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. Notably, two of three (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:
11 to 20 years >>> 3 startups
6 to 10 years >>> 2 startups
1 to 5 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) | 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)
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 (6/23) | Company | FAB Score** | Reviewed | Founded | HQ | Total Funding ($M) | Visits (Dec ’23) |
| Ad | — | Helcim | 32 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2020 | Calgary | $ 12M | 160,000 |
| 1 | 1 | Stripe | 11,990 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2010 | SF | $ 8,700 | 68,000,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Block/Square | 5,054 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2009 | SF | $ 870 | 39,700,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Adyen | 4,369 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2006 | Amsterdam | $ 1,366 | 33,800,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Balance | 223 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2020 | Tel Aviv | $ 431 | 13,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Nium | 47 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2015 | Singapore | $ 288 | 70,000 |
| 6 | 6 | PaymentCloud | 39 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2016 | LA | $ 45 | 150,000 |
| 7 | 7 (t) | Helcim | 32 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2020 | Calgary | $ 12 | 160,000 |
| 8 | 7 (t) | Link | 22 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2021 | SF | $ 30 | 33000 |
| 9 | 9 | Chargezoom | 11 | 26 Jan ’24 | 2019 | LA | $ 12 | 5,000 |
Source: FintechLabs, 26 Jan 2024 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 = 11,050 (down 350 from June 2023)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $8.7B including $6.5B in 2023 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 68 million (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 8,020 (Pitchbook), unchanged since June 2023
– Articles: 3,900 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 760,000 followers (8,600 employees, up 600 since June)
– TrustPilot rating: 2.7 (13,000 reviews, up 1000)
2. Block/Square
FAB Score = 5,130 (unchanged)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2009
– Went public Nov 2015 (NYSE:SQ) at $2.9B valuation
– Raised $870M including $11M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Revenue: $21B TTM
– Market cap: $41B (26 Jan 2024)
– Website visits: 39.7M (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 12,400 (Pitchbook), unchanged since June
– Article citations: 8,500 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 544,000 followers (7,280 employees, up 110 since June)
– Rating: 4.1 (4,320 reviews per TrustPilot, up 390 since June)
3. Adyen
FAB Score = 4,190 (unchanged)
– HQ: Amsterdam
– Founded: 2006
– Went public June 2018
– Raised $1.4B all prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Market cap: $37.2B (26 Jan 2024)
– Revenues: $7.4B TTM (Yahoo Finance)
– Website visits: 33.8M (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 3,880 (Pitchbook), up 550 since June
– Articles: 937 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 228,000 followers (4,480 employees, up 280 since June)
– Rating: 4.7 (2,830 reviews per FeaturedCustomers)
4. Balance
FAB Score = 223 (down 3)
– HQ: Tel Aviv
– Founded: 2020
– Raised: $431M including $416M in 2022, $15M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 13,000 (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 100 (Pitchbook), up 4 since June
– Articles: 27 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 7,000 followers (94 employees, down 4 since June)
– Rating: 5.0 (Note: Only 5 reviews per Capterra)
5. Nium
FAB Score = 47 (down 86)
– HQ: Singapore
– Founded: 2015
– Raised $288M including $200M in 2021, $13M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 70,000 (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,000 (Pitchbook), up 55 since June
– Articles: 214 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 171,000 followers (1,003 employees, down 24 since June)
– Rating: INA
6. PaymentCloud
FAB Score = 39 (down 46)
– HQ: LA (Sherman Oaks)
– Founded: 2016
– Raised $45M including $35M in 2022, $10M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 150,000 (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 86 (Pitchbook), unchanged since June
– Articles: 12 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 3,000 followers (93 employees, up 6 since June)
– Rating: 4.7 (16 reviews per Capterra)
7. Helcim
FAB Score: 32 (up 4)
HQ: Calgary, Canada
Founded: 2020
Raised: $ 12M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
Website visits: 160,000 (Dec 2023; SimilarWeb)
Employees: 140 (Pitchbook), down 9 since June
Article citations: 16 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 9,000 followers (137 employees, down 1 since June)
Trustpilot: 4.2 (352 reviews, up 78 since June)
8. Link
FAB score = 22 (down 6)
HQ: SF
Founded: 2021
Funding: $30M, including $20M in 2023, $10M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
Article citations: 6 (Crunchbase)
Website visits: 33,000 (Dec 2023, SimilarWeb)
Employees: 48 (Pitchbook), up 8 since June
Linkedin: 2,000 followers (47 employees, down 10 since June)
9. Chargezoom
FAB Score = 11 (down 3)
HQ: LA (Irvine)
Founded: 2019
Funding: $12M including $10M in 2022, $2M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
Web visits: 5,000 (Oct 2023, SimilarWeb)
Employees: 16 (Pitchbook), down 1 since June
Article citations: 11 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 1,000 followers (17 employees, down 1 since June)
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.
