Fintech Recovery: Stripe, Rampt Surge as Funding Slumps

The fintech industry, after a challenging 2023, showed signs of recovery in 2024, with increased valuations for private companies like Stripe and Rampt, and rising stocks for publicly traded players such as Affirm, Coinbase, and Robinhood. However, worldwide funding for private fintechs continued to decline, reaching $34 billion in 2024, down from $42 billion in 2023 and a record $144 billion in 2021, according to CB Insights.

Our 2025 Fintech 50 list features entrepreneurs who have thrived in this constrained and sometimes turbulent environment. Fintechs serving other businesses, particularly in the payments, business-to-business banking, and Wall Street and enterprise categories, performed exceptionally well, claiming 31 of the total 50 spots and accounting for 13 of the 18 companies making their Fintech 50 debut this year.

This is the tenth year we're publishing the Fintech 50, and only two companies, both in the payments business, have made the cut every single year: Plaid and Stripe.

Among the first-timers on our 2025 list, Parafin, a San Francisco small business lender founded by three former Robinhood data scientists, uses data from marketplaces like Walmart, DoorDash, and Amazon to underwrite loans more effectively. In 2024, Parafin reached 25,000 borrowers and its revenue more than doubled to $75 million. Squire, a New York company led by former lawyer Songe LaRon, helps barbershops schedule appointments, accept payments, and processed $740 million in transactions in 2024, up from $590 million in 2023.

Newcomer DailyPay, led by former marketing executive Stacy Greiner, lets employees access their wages right after they've earned them. The 10-year-old company counts more than 1,000 businesses, including Hilton and Kroger, as customers and expanded to become available to more than five million employees in 2024.

Another first-timer, DataVisor, uses patented machine learning algorithms to flag fraudulent payments and grew its revenue 67% in