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Fintech exits soared in 2021, and while markets slowed, some startups may still go public in 2022.Investors like Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank could benefit from fintech IPOs.Companies like Chime, Stripe, and Plaid are ones to watch.As more consumers and businesses interact with banking, lending, and investing online and through their phones, fintech continues to attract a growing amount of venture-capital dollars .And some of these investors may see returns soon if these fintech unicorns make their public debuts in 2022.
Fintech exits, which include acquisitions and public offerings, grew a staggering 780% last year, PitchBook reported in its 2021 Annual Fintech Report, with a $331.8 billion value from $37.7 billion in 2020.Much of the exit value came from the initial public offerings of startups like Coinbase, Nubank, Robinhood, Toast, Paytm, Marqeta, Wise, and Affirm, which all made splashy public-market entrances in 2021.
Public markets — and even venture-capital deals — have experienced some slowdown in 2022, which could hamper plans for more fintech IPOs.
Despite this, some fintech startups may still go public as talks around debuts grow.There has been at least one public fintech debut this year.
Applied Blockchain, a data-center builder for Bitcoin mining, began trading on the Nasdaq on April 13, the company said in a press release .
Insider reviewed company statements and press reports to find 19 other fintech companies that may still go public this year and the investors who will benefit.
Blockchain.com Peter Smith, the CEO of Blockchain.com.Blockchain.com Crypto trading platform Blockchain.com may just be the first company on this list to launch a public debut.Bloomberg reported Blockchain.com met with several banks to hold early talks around a possible IPO.The startup, founded in 2011, is currently valued at $14 billion, according to Cointelegraph .
Blockchain.com founder Peter Smith has been bullish about the crypto market as his company continues grow.It’s even made big moves in getting mainstream audiences familiar with the company.Blockchain.com partnered with the Dallas Cowboys in what the company calls the “first-ever crypto partnership with an NFL team.”
Top investors: DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vy Capital, GV, and Baillie Gifford
Chime Chris Britt, the CEO of Chime.
Chime The digital-banking platform Chime has made strides in the industry after bursting onto the scene in 2012.The company sees hundreds of thousands of new users each month, CEO Chris Britt told The Wall Street Journal last year.In January, Chime, which is valued at $25 billion , made waves when Reuters reported that the company hired Goldman Sachs to advise on an IPO.But the digital bank denied it had immediate plans for a public debut.
If Chime does push through with an IPO, its investors will surely benefit.
Top investors: Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, SoftBank Vision Fund, DST Global, Coatue, General Atlantic, Iconiq Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Menlo Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, and Cathay Innovation
DriveWealth Drivewealth DriveWealth, a fintech that provides infrastructure for robo-advisory products, raised $450 million in August and brought its valuation up to $2.85 billion.
Even before the new round of financing, the company had begun a series of acquisitions and major partnerships.
The company is looking at the possibility of an IPO, as the DriveWealth founder and CEO Bob Cortright told Barron’s several special-purpose acquisition companies had approached it.Cortright told Barron’s that the company wanted to spend some time preparing itself before fully considering any offer to go public.
Top investors: Insight Partners, Accel, Greyhound Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, Point72 Ventures, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Base10, FTX, and FlightDeck
Fireblocks Michael Shaulov, the CEO of Fireblocks.Fireblocks The blockchain-infrastructure company Fireblocks raised $550 million in January , upping its valuation to $8 billion.The firm provides the means for fintechs and other institutions to offer crypto services and has managed to bring the assets on its platform up to $2 trillion.This success has brought customers like Bank of New York Mellon, Revolut, BlockFi, and eToro.
The company has not yet made any concrete plans to go public and CEO Michael Shaulov told The Block it may consider tokenizing its shares instead of a more traditional IPO.
Top investors: D1 Capital Partners, Spark Capital, General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Mammoth, CapitalG, Altimeter, Iconiq Strategic Partners, Canapi Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Ribbit, Paradigm, Stripes, DRW Venture Capital, SVB Capital, SCB 10X, and Bank of New York Mellon
Greenlight Financial Tim Sheehan is the CEO of Greenlight.Greenlight Atlanta’s Greenlight Financial believes a personal-finance app for children not only teaches the value of money, but it’s also good business.
The JPMorgan- and Wells Fargo-backed fintech said it increased its valuation to $2.3 billion following a $260 million funding round in 2021.
Greenlight aims to teach kids how to invest and includes the ability to invest in stocks with their parents .Its customers may even learn firsthand what an IPO is, as Greenlight CEO Tim Sheehan told The Wall Street Journal the company was preparing to list.Greenlight also hired Brian Dong as its permanent chief financial officer to help devise a plan for a public debut.
Top investors: Andreessen Horowitz, TTV Capital, Canapi Ventures, Relay Ventures, Bond, Wells Fargo, Fin VC, Goodwater Capital, Wellington Management, Owl Ventures, and LionTree Partners
Gusto Josh Reeves, the CEO of Gusto.Gusto The human-resources startup Gusto reached a valuation of $9.5 billion, said Forbes , after the startup raised funding in 2021.
Despite a rocky start to 2020 where customers were unable to pay because of pandemic closures, Forbes said Gusto rebounded with 50% revenue growth in 2021.
Gusto CEO Josh Reeves said in 2019 it’s only a matter of time before the company went public.Reeves said at the time there’s no timeline for going public, but many of the projects Gusto has undertaken since 2019 are “really more about how we can be a well-run larger company.”
Top investors: T.Rowe Price, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Generation, General Catalyst Sands Capital, Obvious Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Glynn Capital Management, GV, Acrew Capital, Emergence Capital, and CapitalG
HighRadius Sashi Narahari, the CEO of HighRadius.HighRadius The cash-management and treasury-systems service provider HighRadius attracted investors like Citi Ventures and Tiger Global for its latest fundraising, TechCrunch reported.
It’s since grown its valuation and even had Citi Ventures’ global head, Arvind Purushotham, proclaiming HighRadius was central to his bank’s work in treasury and trade systems .
After its $300 million Series C fundraising, Sashi Narahari, HighRadius’ founder, told Bloomberg the company may consider going public soon.
Top investors: Citi Ventures, Tiger Global, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Iconiq, and D1 Capital Partners
HomeLight A house for sale in Maine.Gordon Chibroski/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images The proptech startup HomeLight is valued at $1.6 billion .
Founded in 2012, the company, which matches real-estate agents with buyers, said it wanted to be an “Amazon for homebuyers” and hoped to make buying and selling a house easier.
The company could look to file an IPO, Bloomberg said, though no plans have been announced yet.
Top investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Menlo Ventures, GV, Zeev Ventures, Citi Ventures, Group 11, Crosslink Capital, Bullpen Capital, ST Capital, FundersClub, and 500 Startups
Human Interest Market volatility is one of the biggest risks to consider after retirement.Marko Geber/Getty The retirement platform Human Interest, whose valuation is $1 billion , announced in November it planned to go public with the appointment of two independent directors with experience in preparing for an IPO.
Human Interest has said it sees strong growth potential in its industry, TechCrunch reported, and raised $200 million in August.
Top investors: The Rise Fund, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, NewView Capital, Glynn Capital, US Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital, Uncork Capital, Slow Capital, and Susa Ventures
Klarna Shutterstock Swedish payments firm Klarna helped bring its buy now, pay later service to the US.The company, with a valuation of $40 billion , stands as one of the most valuable companies in Europe.
Rumors of its IPO have been around since 2021, even as CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC the volatility of the stock market “makes [him] nervous to IPO.”
Top investors: Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer, Bestseller Group, Visa, Permira, Atomico, Ant Group, TCV, Silver Lake, HMI Capital, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Chrysalis Investments Limited, and BlackRock (through accounts it manages)
Next Insurance The largest homeowners insurance companies.
Cohen/Ostrow/Getty Images The artificial-intelligence-powered insurtech company Next Insurance continues to grow and now serves more than 130,000 users .
The company raised $250 million in September 2020, Crunchbase reported, with a valuation of $4 billion.
While Barron’s reported Next Insurance had downplayed talks of an IPO, the company hired the seasoned IPO executive Teodora Gouneva as its new chief financial officer .Gouneva has worked on the IPOs of PayPal and Airbnb.
Top investors: FinTLV Ventures, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Munich RE Group, American Express Ventures, Zeev Ventures, Group 11, Founders Circle, and G Squared
Pacaso The back deck of a Pacaso vacation home.Pacaso Founded in 2020, the proptech startup Pacaso reached a $1 billion valuation in just five months, making it the fastest company to reach unicorn status .It has a $1.5 billion valuation .
Real Deal reported the company, which helps facilitate co-ownership of a second home, raised a $125 million Series C round in September, just a few months after its $75 million Series B in March 2021, which was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
With demand for second homes high , the company could see strong interest for a public debut.Pacaso, though, wants to take its time with an IPO.Austin Allison, Pacaso’s CEO, said in an interview with Real Deal that while an IPO made sense, there were no near-term plans to list in the stock market.But, of course, that may change.
Top investors: Greycroft, Maveron, Crosscut, GFC, Fifth Wall, First Republic, Alumni Ventures, and SoftBank
Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez.
Eyal Tuag The Israel human-resources-management platform Papaya Global raised $250 million in September .With that latest round of financing, the company brought its valuation up to $3.7 billion .
Eynat Guez, Papaya Global’s cofounder and CEO, has said the company wants to eventually list publicly.In March, the company raised $100 million, and Guez said the round could be the last before the company filed for an IPO.
While a public debut has not happened, Guez told the Israeli news outlet Globes last year that her firm was “planning an IPO within the next 24 months but of course, it depends on parameters like the situation of the market.”
Top investors: Tiger Global, Insight Partners, IVP, Scale Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners
Plaid Zach Perret, the CEO of Plaid.Plaid The data aggregator Plaid raised $425 million in Series D funding last year , bringing its valuation to $13.4 billion.After a failed acquisition bid by Visa , Plaid, which helps bridge user data to banks, could look to the public markets to continue its growth.
Its most recent funding round, and reported talks with investors, prompted speculation the company was planning an IPO soon.
Top investors: Altimeter Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Ribbit Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, JPMorgan Private Capital Growth Equity Partners, AmEx Ventures, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital, and Thrive Capital
Stash Brandon Krieg, the CEO of Stash.Stash The investing and banking app Stash saw strong growth in 2020 as people wanted to figure out their finances during the pandemic .
The company, valued at $1.4 billion, raised $125 million in Series G financing, CNBC reported.
Stash started in 2015 as a mobile finance app and has since expanded its services to include investment, retirement, bank, and custodial accounts through a subscription.
Bloomberg reported Stash was mulling ways to go public last year, though Brandon Krieg, Stash’s cofounder and CEO, did not confirm any plans.
Top investors: Eldridge, T.Rowe Price, Goodwater Capital, Coatue, Union Square Ventures, and Valar Ventures
Stripe John Collison, left, and Patrick Collison.Stripe The payments giant Stripe — one of the most valuable fintech companies, at $95 billion — has been rumored to be considering an IPO since last year .While the founders (and brothers) John and Patrick Collison have not spoken openly about a public debut, most expect the company to seek public funding soon .
But Stripe may not get as high a valuation as it expects on the public markets.Fidelity recently cut its valuation for the payments company to $32.20 a share amid market volatility.
Top investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Management, Baillie Gifford, Allianz X, AXA, Thrive Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Silver Lake, and Shopify
Tipalti Tipalti CEO Chen Amit.
Tipalti The payments-automation company Tipalti is valued at $8.3 billion .The San Mateo, California, startup helps clients like Twitter, Uber, and GoDaddy manage their transactions .
After it raised $270 million in December, Tipalti’s CEO and founder, Chen Amit, told The Block the company knew an IPO was on the horizon for it and would be looking to work with investors that could continue to support Tipalti through to a public debut.
Top investors: Zeev Ventures, Durable Capital Partners, 01 Advisors, Marshall Wace, and Counterpoint Global Fund
Tradeshift The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.Thomas Pallini/Insider Founded in Denmark, the cloud-based supply-chain platform Tradeshift had planned an IPO in 2020 but decided to push it back, Pymnts.com reported.
Since then, the company has gone back to investors for financing.Tradeshift raised $200 million in December .As the company grows — it partnered with HSBC in 2017 to provide access to supply-chain tracking — there’s still a possibility of an IPO.
Top investors: Koch Industries, IDC Ventures, LUN Partners, Private Shares, Fuel Capital, Goldman Sachs, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, HSBC, Notion Capital, GP Bullhound, Gray Swan, American Express Ventures, H14, and Santander InnoVentures
Varo Bank Colin Walsh, the CEO of Varo.Varo Varo, a digital bank founded in 2015, became the first challenger bank to receive a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2020, which allowed it to expand its financial services.
Since then, the bank has pulled in $510 million in growth funding and grew its valuation to $2.5 billion .
Varo CEO Colin Walsh told TechCrunch that the company planned to go public.
Top investors: Lone Pine Capital, Declaration Partners, Berkshire Partners, Warburg Pincus, The Rise Fund, TPG Growth, BlackRock, Gallatin Point Capital, and HarbourVest Partners.