Beyond Wall Street: 12 American Fintechs Raising the Stakes in Financial Innovation

Imagine the financial world at your fingertips—whether you're a savvy Gen Z investor or a retiree seeking a secure future, the wave of fintech innovation sweeping across America is democratizing finance like never before. Welcome to a brave new frontier.

In America’s sprawling digital landscape, where the fintech market achieved a staggering USD 4 trillion size in 2022, a dynamic revolution is underfoot. The land of opportunity is witnessing a modern gold rush, with over 8775 fintech start-ups, as traditional financial pathways are being upended by the ABCD of fintech—AI, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, and Big Data. From coast to coast, a vibrant entrepreneurial culture and cutting-edge technological adoption are driving an 11% CAGR in this bustling industry. And it's not just about dollars and cents; it's about reaching into every stratum of society.

But, hold your digital horses. With so much innovation afoot, what sets the stage for real game-changers? That's where we come in. Buckle up as we guide you through a cross section of some of the most innovative fintech companies driving American growth, firms that are challenging norms and showing us how fintech can be applied to all walks of life. From financial literacy platforms for kids, to investment tools for Gen Z, to fintech safety nets for seniors, these companies aren't just riding the wave, they're steering it. Excuse the mixed metaphors—and let's dive in.

Alinea

Founders: Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani

Alinea is a New York City-based mobile investing app aimed at empowering Gen-Zers to invest in the stock market. Focusing on making investing more accessible and aligning with the values and interests of a younger generation, Alinea has successfully incorporated features like bite-sized insights, fractional shares, and personalized investment recommendations. Founded by Nikhil Agarwal, Anam Lakhani, and Eve Halimi, who experienced firsthand the challenges young investors face, Alinea completed the Y Combinator accelerator program in the Winter 2021 batch. The platform provides an alternative to traditional investing norms, emphasizing social consciousness, inclusivity, and a more inviting experience.

The founding team identified three common concerns among Gen-Zers: not knowing where to start, feeling they don't know enough to invest, and believing they don't have enough money. To tackle these issues, Alinea offers features like questions to guide personalized investments and the option to invest with as little as $1. With a focus on community, they've also built investment groups across college campuses such as WashU, Yale, UCLA, NYU, and UChicago, engaging over 65 Alinea community coordinators. The platform removes the traditional red and green colors from its app to avoid emotional triggers and promote rational decision-making, reflecting a Warren Buffet-approved strategy. In the coming months, Alinea plans to grow its community to more university campuses, aiming to influence and guide more Gen-Zers in their investing journey.

Modern Treasury

Founders: Sam Aarons, Dimitri Dadiomov and Matt Marcus

Modern Treasury, a San Francisco-based fintech startup, focuses on creating software to assist companies in managing cash flow and bank payments. The idea emerged from the experiences of the founders Dimitri Dadiomov, Sam Aarons, and Matt Marcus, who met while working at LendingHome, where they oversaw cumbersome financial transactions. They identified a gap in the market for high-quality software specifically addressing payment operations for companies, not just consumers. This realization led them to create Modern Treasury in 2018, providing a solution that spans industries such as healthcare, real estate, and crypto.

Since its inception, Modern Treasury has shown remarkable growth and financial success. As of early 2022, the company had 115 employees, new offices in San Francisco and New York, and managed $2.8 billion in transactions for its customers in February alone, up from less than $1 billion at the beginning of the previous year. The company's valuation reached $2.1 billion after a Series C financing that raised $85 million, followed by additional investments from Salesforce and Silicon Valley Bank. The company has about 100 customers, including notable names like Marqeta and ClassPass, and its annualized revenue stands in the "high single-digit millions." Modern Treasury's rapid development and strategic partnerships position it strongly for continued expansion into the enterprise market.

‍

Greenlight

‍

Founders: Tim Sheehan and Johnson Cook

Greenlight was founded in 2014 by Tim Sheehan and Johnson Cook, who brought extensive experience in finance and venture capital, including roles at companies like Yahoo! and Atlanta Ventures. Recognizing the challenges that parents face in teaching kids about personal finance, they embarked on a mission to bridge the gap between childhood piggy banks and young adult financial responsibility. Greenlight provides family-friendly banking services, empowering parents with controls over spending limits, transaction notifications, and savings incentives. The Greenlight app also facilitates financial education, allowing parents to manage allowances electronically and encourage positive financial behaviors.

Since its inception, Greenlight has successfully raised significant funding, including a seed round of $7.5M in June 2017, a Series A of $16M in February 2018, a Series B of $54M in September 2019, and a Series C round of $215M in September 2020, leading to a valuation of $1.2B. With these resources, Greenlight has been able to serve over 2 million parents and children, offering tailored financial products like spend cards and savings plans. Despite being priced higher than competitors such as gohenry and FamZoo, Greenlight continues to be a leader in the family banking sector, aiming to expand into new areas like investing and credit education. The company's unique approach to connecting financial education with practical products positions it for continued growth and influence in the coming years.

‍

Pogo

Founders: Dom Wong, Oskar Melking and Shikhar Mohan

Pogo, a New York-based financial health app, is designed to empower consumers to harness and benefit from their own data. Positioning itself as the consumers' "digital agent," Pogo syncs with users' data to help them discover new ways to save and earn money. For instance, by analyzing purchase data, Pogo can identify overpayment on auto insurance and guide users to better deals, reportedly saving them an average of $650 per year. This innovative approach stems from the company's core belief that consumers, not just corporations, should be able to utilize their own data for personal gain.

In terms of financial details, Pogo has recently secured a total of $14.8 million in funding. This amount includes a $12.3 million seed round led by Josh Buckley and a previously unannounced $2.5 million pre-seed round. Investors comprise notable names such as Slow Ventures, Village Global, Mantis, and others, with over 100 top founders, operators, and creators backing the startup. The leader of the round, Josh Buckley, praises Pogo for its growth and excellent user retention, signaling strong demand in the market for financial health apps. With this financial backing, Pogo is poised to further its mission of flipping the script on data usage, shifting the benefit toward the individual consumer.

Coast

Founder: Daniel Simon

Coast focuses on providing a powerful commercial charge card solution tailored for businesses that operate vehicle fleets. Founded in 2020 by Daniel Simon, Coast's mission is to reimagine the trillion-dollar U.S. B2B card payments infrastructure, particularly targeting the country's 500,000 commercial fleets and 40 million commercial vehicles. Coast's cards can be used wherever Visa is accepted, offering fleet operators greater control, security, and visibility over their spending. It provides granular control, fair and transparent pricing, and enhanced data and convenience. In collaboration with Visa, Coast aims to transform financial services for fleet operators, offering a fresh alternative to the incumbents dominating the $120 billion annual fleet fuel payments market in the U.S.

The founding story of Coast begins with Simon, who recognized the underserved needs of fleet operators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Witnessing the struggles and unique requirements of this vital segment of the economy, he sought to create a specialized solution to fill the gap. Simon previously co-founded the consumer finance startup Bread, which was sold for over $500 million in 2020, showcasing his experience in the fintech space. Under his leadership, Coast has successfully raised $27.5 million in Series A financing, led by Accel and Insight Partners, with participation from various investors. This funding aims to expand the platform's capabilities, develop integrations into essential business tools, and enable the company to continue scaling its team.

‍

Orum

Founder: Stephany Kirkpatrick

Orum, founded in 2019, aims to drastically reduce the time required for money transfers between banks through machine learning-backed APIs. They have recently raised $56 million in a Series B round led by Accel and Canapi Ventures, alongside other backers, bringing the total raised to over $82 million. Orum’s technology intends to move money "smartly across all payment rails," ensuring universal financial access. The company’s first product, Foresight, launched in September 2020, uses machine learning and data science to enable real-time fund movement. Additionally, their Momentum product, powered by banking providers like JPMorgan Chase and Silicon Valley Bank, further assists in money movement on a multi-rail basis. Serving enterprise partners like Alloy, HM Bradley, and First Horizon Bank, Orum has seen its transaction volume grow 100% month over month.

The founder's story revolves around CEO Stephany Kirkpatrick's experience as a certified financial planner, where she observed “deep cracks” in the U.S. financial infrastructure. Inspired by the unnecessary delays in interbank money transfers, she launched Orum with a vision to make such transfers instantaneous. Orum's foundation also lies in its commitment to diversity; 48% of its 55-person team are female, and 48% are “nonwhite.” Moreover, the company allocated over 10% of its Series B round to underrepresented founders, reflecting its ethos. With strong backing from investors who recognize Orum's game-changing technology, the company is strategically positioned to revolutionize financial services and fintech by enhancing the speed and risk management associated with money movement.

Sunbit

Founders: Arad Levertov, Ornit Dweck-Maizel, Tal Reisenfeld, and Tamir Hazan

Sunbit aims to ease the stress of paying for life’s expenses by giving people more options on how and when they pay. Arad Levertov's journey to founding Sunbit was born from personal experience and a desire to change the way credit was accessed. After moving to the U.S. from Israel, a humbling and embarrassing rejection for a store credit card led him to think about a more transparent, fast, and accessible credit solution. Leveraging his extensive background as a Chief Operating Officer at Enova International, a Navy Seals Officer in the Israel Defense Forces, and his years of work at Intel, Arad utilized his engineering knowledge and leadership skills to create Sunbit. The company, founded in 2016 in Los Angeles, reflected his vision of making payments simpler and more equitable, and a team from Israel was engaged to develop the technological side of the business. Trust was a significant challenge initially, but Sunbit's innovative approach convinced retailers and customers alike.

Today, Sunbit stands as a testament to Arad's dedication and innovation in the financial technology space. Available in over 13,000 locations nationwide, Sunbit has certified more than 80,000 people to provide its services, boasting a 90% approval rate. The company's funding journey began modestly with $120,000 but has grown impressively, collecting $210 million across seven funding rounds from 17 investors. Sunbit's focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence continues to expand access to fair and transparent credit rates, reflecting Arad's mindset that everyone should benefit and have access to quality financial services.

‍

Carefull

Founders: Max Goldman and Todd Rovak

Carefull, founded in 2019, is the first digital platform developed to shield the daily finances of older adults from fraud and financial threats. It integrates senior-specific financial monitoring, financial management, identity theft protection, password and document management, and communication. By 2022, Carefull has successfully protected $2 billion of transactions, with new marquee partnerships and product offerings such as identifying digital payment scams, money mule fraud, and cryptocurrency fraud. It also launched Carefull Pro, a state-of-the-art platform for wealth managers to better protect their older adult clients. Co-founders Todd Rovak and Max Goldman have committed to using AI to further defend their clients' assets in the coming years, and the company's user base doubled in the third quarter of 2022.

The company's recent growth and expanded product suite have made it an essential tool in the realm of senior financial protections. Carefull has developed agreements with significant financial entities like MassMutual, Nationwide, Cetera Financial Group, and more, solidifying its position in the market. The platform's relaunch as Carefull Pro provides enhanced tools to wealth managers and has resulted in monitoring over $60 million in client transactions, assisting in recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars from fraudulent activities. As experts predict a wealth transfer of approximately $84 trillion between generations in the next two decades, Carefull continues to innovate, aiming to release even more protections and partnerships in 2023 to maintain robust relationships with financial institutions throughout the industry.

‍

Kalshi

Founders: Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara

Kalshi Inc. is a New York-based derivatives exchange that enables wagering on real-life events such as election outcomes, weather shifts, and geopolitical outcomes. With plans to attract hedge funds and professional traders, Kalshi is considering boosting wager limits beyond the current maximum of $25,000, and has increased the limit on its monthly inflation-rate contract to $7 million. The company, founded by former Citadel Securities quant traders Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour, trades about $10 million a month, and is pursuing Wall Street firms to expand that volume.

Co-founders Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour hail from the prestigious Citadel Securities as quant traders, embodying a strong pedigree in the field. They are actively pushing to establish Kalshi as a first-mover in this emerging asset class, navigating regulatory land mines and aiming to attract big-money investors. However, the startup has faced some setbacks, losing about a quarter of its staff on Jan. 31 through a combination of staff cuts and voluntary departures. Despite this, the company has shown resilience, even planning to onboard at least one large market maker earlier this year, as part of its ongoing strategy to strengthen its position in the market.

‍

Compound

Founders: Jordan Gonen and Jacob Schein

Compound is a wealth management startup that has emerged with $37 million in funding, designed to provide financial solutions for wealthy tech investors, especially those dealing with unconventional assets like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and illiquid private company shares. Unlike traditional firms that charge a percentage of assets, Compound operates on an annual subscription fee, tailored to each client's individual needs. Founded by Jordan Gonen and Jacob Schein in 2019, and backed by at least four billionaires such as Egon Durban, Fred Ehrsam, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Max Levchin, Compound aims to fill the gap for clients who hold illiquid wealth, and it has already reported $113 million in assets under management across 221 accounts as of last August.

The founding journey of Compound can be traced back to the shared experience of founders Jordan Gonen and Jacob Schein while they were attending Washington University of St. Louis. Faced with personal challenges in managing money and equity options within the fast-growing technology sector, they interviewed hundreds of startup founders and wealthy individuals to comprehend their financial needs. With guidance from early supporters like Lachy Groom and participation in the 2019 Y Combinator class, they developed Compound's platform, which integrates with popular equity management platforms and even provides access to on-staff human financial advisors. Now, with the vision to become the next ICONIQ Capital, Compound aspires to serve a new generation unserviced by traditional firms, leveraging its strong backing and innovative approach.

‍

Unit

Founders: Doron Somech and Itai Damti

Unit is a fintech company founded by Itai Damti (CEO) and Doron Somech (CTO) in 2019. The company's focus is to simplify the complex and expensive process of integrating banking experiences into technology companies. By leveraging Unit's platform, businesses can launch accounts, cards, payments, and lending within a mere five weeks, a process that traditionally might take up to 18 months. Unit's platform turns this endeavor into one API and one dashboard, according to Damti.

The founding story of Unit reflects Damti's passion for software development, starting at the age of 12. He served as a software developer in the Israel Defense Forces and studied mathematics as an undergraduate. Damti's entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Leverate, a technology provider for online brokers, with Somech. Leverate achieved significant growth, reaching 160 employees globally and handling $100 billion in monthly trading volume without VC funding. After leaving Leverate, Damti worked closely with fintech startups and reconnected with Somech in 2019. The pair spent a year stealthily building Unit and officially launched the platform in late 2020. The company has since attracted significant investment, including a $100 million Series C, valuing Unit at $1.2 billion. ✥

‍

Images courtesy of: Sunbit, Modern Treasury, Pogo, Unit, Coast, Alinea, Carefull, Kalshi, Compound, Orum, Greenlight Financial, and TechCrunch