Update: See here for full-year 2016.
Y Combinator (YC) continues to be the most important incubator in the general technology space with high-flying alums such as Airbnb, Dropbox and Instacart. YC is less well known, but equally successful in the fintech vertical with Stripe and Zenefits, along with two Finovate alums, ZenPayroll and Coinbase, all in the $500+ million club (based on most recent funding).
Those big wins are all the more impressive, given the smaller universe of fintech companies incubated at YC—less than 10% of its total (see table below). YC has hatched just 85 fintech companies (see list below), most in the past 30 months.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how well the new crop of specialized fintech incubators does in attracting promising new fintech companies. Does backing from Barclays or Wells Fargo trump the halo effect of a YC investment? We’ll soon find out.
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Table: YC Fintech Companies by Year
| Class | Total Companies | # Fintech Companies | % Fintech |
| 2016 (1st half) | 119 | 13 | 11% |
| 2015 | 201 | 22 | 11% |
| 2014 | 109 | 13 | 12% |
| 2013 | 83 | 9 | 9% |
| 2012 | 117 | 8 | 7% |
| 2011 | 89 | 7 | 8% |
| 2010 | 61 | 6 | 10% |
| 2009 | 39 | 1 | 3% |
| 2008 | 43 | 1 | 2% |
| 2007 | 32 | 2 | 6% |
| 2006 | 17 | 0 | 0% |
| 2005 | 8 | 1 | 13% |
| Total | 918 | 85 | 9.3% |
Source: Y-Combinator (yclist.com), Finovate analysis
(see note 1 for Fintech definition)
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List: YC fintech alums by year
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2016 (first half)
- Bonsai: Invoicing and payments tool targted to freelancers
- AlphaFlow: P2P real estate investment manager for individual investors
- Cover: Insurance-on-demand using a smartphone camera
- Emburse: Corporate prepaid cards that enforce spending rules
- flexReceipts: Digital receipt platform
- Landed: Crowdfunding platform for mortgage down payments
- LendEDU: Student loan portal
- MeterFeeder: Enables all parking meters to accept credit cards
- PayStack: Online card processer in Nigeria
- PocketSuite: Small businesses payment, invoicing, bookin and communication application
- Stilt: Personal loans for international borrowers living in the United States
- TrueBill: Subscription payment management for consumers
- WorldCover: Crop insurance for the developing world
2015
- Bankjoy: Mobile banking for credit unions
- Branch8: Payments
- Captain 401k: Tax-advantaged investments
- Direct Match: A democratic marketplace for debt
- Drip Capital: Small business financing
- Final: A credit card built for the 21st century
- Give Campus: Philanthropy
- Greenshoe: Underbanked
- Instavest: Replicate the world’s best investments
- KickPay: Marketplace where businesses can sell their invoices
- Open Invest: Investing
- Open Listings: Home buying platform
- Razorpay: Online payments for India
- Second Measure: Investing
- Seed: Small business banking for innovators
- Serica: Payments
- Spark Gift: Give the gift of stocks and index funds
- Tab: Underbanked
- Tesorio: Small business
- Vest: Investing
- Xendit: Underbanked
- Xfers: Underbanked
2014
- Abacus: Say good-bye to expense reports
- BillForward: A highly flexible and unified billing platform; built for high growth and enterprise companies
- BitAccess: The easiest way to buy and sell bitcoin
- BlockScore: Real-time identity verification and due diligence
- ClearTax; The easiest way to e-file income tax returns in India
- Onename.io: Blockchain ID. A better identity
- Shift Payments: Shift Payments is changing the way money changes hands
- Sliced Investing: Sliced provides technology to help financial advisers deploy alternatives
- TradeBlock: Digital currency data and analysis
- Two Tap: Users can now order any product directly in your app with Two Tap
- Zen99: 1099 tax help for rideshare drivers, delivery drivers, housekeepers, and more
- Zidisha: Online microlending community
- Zinc: Pay with with Dwolla or Bitcoin, and manage all your orders in one place
2013
- Buttercoin: Trade bitcoin with ease
- PayTango: PayTango links cards in your wallet to your fingerprints
- RealCrowd: Featured investments available for funding
- SimplyInsured: Simple health insurance for small businesses
- Standard Treasury: APIs for commercial banks
- Swish: Mobile point-of-sale solution
- True Link Financial: Debit card with spending controls
- WeFunder: Opportunity to invest in startups.
- Zenefits: Online benefits and health insurance provider
2012
- Airbrite (exited): Cloud-enabled platform for mobile commerce
- Coinbase: Bitcoin wallet and exchange
- Crowdtilt: Allows users to pool funds online
- Eligible: Real-time eligibility checks for health insurance
- FundersClub: Equity crowdfunding marketplace
- LendUp: Reinventing the payday-lending industry
- SmartAsset: Bringing full transparency to the financial decision-making process
- ZenPayroll: Modern payroll
2011
- DebtEye: Automated credit-counseling solution
- Giftrocket: Gift card that works at any location
- GoCardless: U.K.-based service for merchants to set up interbank transfers for customers
- Leaky: Helps consumers make better decisions about insurance
- OrderAhead: Order from local merchants on your phone
- TrustEgg: Simple way to save for a child’s future
- SwipeGood: Enroll credit and debit cards to automatically round up every purchase to the nearest dollar for charity
2010
- CardPool (exited): Gift card exchange marketplace
- E la Carte: Tablets for restaurant point-of-sale
- FutureAdvisor (exited): Robo-adviser
- Indinero: Accounting, taxes and payroll for small business
- ReadyForZero (exited): Helping people control and reduce debt
- Stripe: Developer-friendly way to accept payments online
2009
- WePay: Online payments platform
2008
- Tipjoy (dead): Social payments engine for digital content
2007
- Buxfer: Personal finance manager
- SocialPicks (exited): Online investing community
2005
- TextPayMe (exited): SMS payment service acquired by Amazon
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Notes:
1. We are using a broad definition of fintech including payments, insurance, investing, etc.
2. A few YC companies are in stealth mode, so this list is not complete.