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FinTech Unicorn List: 36 Companies + 34 More Closing In

FinTech Unicorn List: 36 Companies + 34 More Closing In

unicorn_StampedeUpdate: An update of this post was published in July 2015.

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It’s been a year since we published the first fintech unicorn list. It includes companies (and exits) in the financial sector (either direct services or software) founded since 2000 and worth at least $1 billion (actually we are using $900 million as the floor).

This year, the list has more than tripled to 36 companies, up 25 from the 11 last year. It’s partly a reflection of increased transparency into global valuations. For example, China has four alt-lenders on the list compared to zero last year. But mostly it’s a dramatic increase in private company valuations, especially in the lending sector.

In addition, we’ve listed 34 “semi-unicorns” (narwhals?) with estimated values of $500 million to $800 million. In total, there are 70 companies with a total estimated value of about $100 billion (~ 2 Ubers).

Here is the sector breakdown:

Sector Unicorns Semi-Unicorns Total
Lending 11 11 22
Payments 11 6 17
Investing 1 5 6
Real estate 2 3 5
Insurance 3 1 4
Accounting 2 0 2
Credit reports 2 0 2
Security 1 1 2
Bitcoin 1 2 3
Other


2


5


7


Total 36 34 70

 

Some caveats:
1. For private companies (28 of the 36 unicorns), values are hugely dependent on the terms of the deal (read this), so they are not comparable to public company valuations.
2. About half the unicorn valuations are derived from public statements by the companies or investors during recent rounds or acquisitions. However, half are estimated by analysts/algorithms from tracking firms, especially Funderbeam, an Estonian startup that’s relatively new on the scene. So there is a lot of room for error in these valuations.
3. For the “near-unicorn” list we’ve added a number of companies that have recently raised large rounds, but have not made public statements about valuation. We estimated most of those at $500 million, but these are simply educated guesses.
4. We are using a broad definition of fintech including real estate. Also, we’ve included a few Finovate alums that are not pure-play fintech, but that have a significant financial services business.

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The Fintech Unicorn List

Company Sector Finovate Alum? Value ($Bil) Value Source
1. Lufax Lending No 10.0 WSJ (4/15)
2. LendingClub Lending Yes 6.5 Public
3. Square Payments No 6.0 Oct 2014 round
4. Zillow Real estate No 5.4 Public
5. Zenefits Insurance No 4.5 May 2015 round
6. Stripe Payments No 3.5 Dec 2014 round
7. Powa Technologies Payments Yes 2.7 Nov 2014 round
8. Klarna Payments Yes 2.5 Mar 2014 round
9. Xero Accounting Yes 2.4 Public
10. CommonBond Lending No 2.0 Funderbeam
10. CreditKarma (note 1) Credit Reports Yes 2.0 Funderbeam
10. Oscar Insurance No 2.0 Funderbeam
10. One97 Payments No 2.0 Feb 2015 round
14. Prosper Lending Yes 1.9 April 2015 round
15. Dataminr Analytics No 1.6 Funderbeam
16. Zuora Payments No 1.5 Funderbeam
16. FinancialForce Accounting No 1.5 Funderbeam
16. LifeLock Credit Reports No 1.5 Public
16. Adyen Payments No 1.5 Dec 2014 round
20. iZettle Payments No 1.4 Funderbeam
21. SoFI Lending No 1.3 Feb 2015 round
21. Housing.com Real estate No 1.3 Funderbeam
21. Qufenqi Lending No 1.3 Funderbeam
21. Revel Systems Payments No 1.3 Funderbeam
25. On Deck Lending Yes 1.2 Public
26. FundingCircle Lending No 1.0 CB Insights
26. Jimubox Lending No 1.0 Funderbeam
26. Kofax Doc mgmt Yes 1.0 Acquired (Lexmark)
26. TransferWise Payments Yes 1.0 CB Insights
26. Trusteer Security No 1.0 Acquired (IBM)
26. Mozido Payments No 1.0 Finovate est
32. Avant Lending No 0.9 Forbes (4/15)
32. IEX Group Investing No 0.9 Funderbeam
32. RenRenDai Lending No 0.9 Funderbeam
32. Coinbase Bitcoin Yes 0.9 Funderbeam
32. ClimateCorp Insurance No 0.9 Acquired (Monsanto)
Semi-unicorns
Wonga Lending Yes 0.8 Finovate est
Wealthfront Investing Yes 0.8 Funderbeam
Rong360 Lending No 0.8 Funderbeam
Betterment Investing Yes 0.8 Funderbeam
Braintree Payments Yes 0.8 Acquired (PayPal)
Q2 Banking Yes 0.8 Public
WorldRemit Payments Yes 0.7 Funderbeam
Taulia Payments Yes 0.7 Funderbeam
Radius Marketing Yes 0.7 Funderbeam
Oportun (Progreso Financiero) Lending Yes 0.7 Finovate est
Circle Internet Finance Bitcoin No 0.6 Funderbeam
AnJuke Real estate No 0.6 Funderbeam
Kabbage Lending Yes 0.6 Funderbeam
EzBob Lending Yes 0.6 Funderbeam
FangDD Real estate No 0.6 Funderbeam
VivaReal Real estate No 0.5 Funderbeam
Motif Investing Investing Yes 0.5 Funderbeam
Snowball Finance Investing No 0.5 Funderbeam
PolicyBazaar Insurance Yes 0.5 Funderbeam
Credorax Payments No 0.5 Funderbeam
Cardlytics Marketing Yes 0.5 Funderbeam
Zopa Lending Yes 0.5 Finovate est
CAN Capital Lending Yes 0.5 Finovate est
Receivables Exchange Lending Yes 0.5 Finovate est
Affirm Lending No 0.5 Finovate est
Ayadsi Analytics Yes 0.5 Finovate est
21 Inc Bitcoin No 0.5 Finovate est
Bill.com Payments Yes 0.5 Finovate est
FreeCharge Payments No 0.5 Finovate est
U51 Lending No 0.5 Finovate est
Financial Software Systems Risk Mgmt No 0.5 Finovate est
Strategic Funding Source Lending Yes 0.5 Finovate est
Ping Identity Security Yes 0.5 Finovate est

Personal Capital Investing Yes 0.5 Finovate est

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Source: Compiled by Finovate, 8 May 2015

Notes:
1. Update (24 June 2015): Credit Karma now valued at $3.5 billion (source: Finovate)

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