20 Trending Personal Finance Companies & Startups (2024)
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COVID-19 hasn’t exactly helped the state of personal finance in the U.S. Things have changed, but Americans are not optimistic.
In fact, a survey showed that 63% of Americans don't see their personal financial situations improving in 2024.
However, there are hints in other areas that at least some people are now going through a sea change regarding how they think about money.
More people are budgeting, retirement savings are growing, and Americans have hope for their financial future, despite whatever setbacks they’ve experienced.
It’s fitting then that so many startups focused on banking, investing, financial planning, and budgeting are ponying up to take a bite of the global financial tech market, which is slated to hit $324B by 2026.
We’ve rounded up 20 of the most intriguing companies in this space below.
1. Cowrywise
5-year search growth: 224%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Funding: $3.3M (Seed)
What they do: Cowrywise is a Nigeria-based personal finance startup that helps users make the most of their money, whether by better financial planning, smarter saving, or targetted investing. The startup also offers easy money-sending capabilities and has a social component. Founder Razaq Ahmed started Cowrywise, which announced a $3M investment round in early 2021, to provide better savings and investment options to more people.
2. Revolut
5-year search growth: 257%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: London, England
Funding: $1.7B (Secondary Market)
What they do: Revolut is a money management app with tools ranging from transfer and payment services to budgeting to global spending in over 30 currencies. Founded in the U.K. and now used globally, Revolut has raised an estimated $1.7B, with the most recent 2021 Series E round bringing in $800M.
3. Zoro Card
5-year search growth: 620%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: Austin, Texas
Funding: $3.1M (Seed)
What they do: Zoro Card was created to help people improve their credit with a card that functions like a debit card. The company offers users a low monthly fee and a quick approval process. The Indiana-headquartered startup, founded by former Indiana University Kelley School of Business students Roger Morris and Zak Grove, has yet to be fully launched and is still only available through early access.
4. Stirlingshire
5-year search growth: -24%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: New York City, New York
Funding: $1.6M (Seed)
What they do: Stirlingshire is a new personal finance company seeking to upend the traditional broker-dealer model exemplified by companies such as Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity Investments. The company, which is still in its early stages and not currently accepting clients, was founded by high-school-dropout-turned-Wall-Street-broker Steven Woods.
5. AAX
5-year search growth: 300%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2019
Location: Malta, Illinois
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: AAX (ATOM Asset Exchange) is a crypto-trading platform that advertises zero fees, low latency trading, high liquidity, reliable uptime, and more. Founded in 2018 and brought to the public in 2019, the digital asset exchange is headed up by CEO Thor Chan, a co-founder and crypto enthusiast formerly employed at FDT (a startup accelerator), App Annie, and others.
6. Kuda
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2019
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Funding: $91.6M (Series B)
What they do: Kuda is a Nigerian digital bank that provides financial services through a mobile app. The startup aims to make banking services more accessible to customers by providing free debit cards, no monthly fees, and no ATM fees. Users can also open an account and start using the bank's services in just a few minutes, without the need to visit a physical branch.
7. Copper Banking
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: Seattle, Washington
Funding: $42.3M (Series A)
What they do: Copper Banking is focused on helping teenagers manage money and grow their financial literacy. Customers can access mobile banking and use a debit card to make purchases and withdraw cash from ATMs. The company, founded by professionals with experience at PayPal, Stripe, Intuit, and other companies, raised $29M in a 2022 Series A round.
8. Credello
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Credello, owned by iQuanti Inc., is a personal finance website designed to deliver people financial product suggestions that fit their situations and needs. Examples include debt consolidation and payoff, personal and home equity loans, refinancing options, and more. Founder Vish Sastry Rachakonda previously headed up the small business arm of Discover Financial Services and served as VP for American Express.
9. HyperJar
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: London, England
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: HyperJar is a personal finance and budgeting app that allows users to plan and manage their spending. It offers a unique feature called 'jars' that lets users create separate pots of money for different purposes such as groceries, bills, or travel. Users can also share their jars with friends and family, making it easier to split expenses and manage shared budgets.
10. Wagepay
5-year search growth: 5,400%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2020
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Funding: $6.6M (Debt Financing)
What they do: Wagepay is an Australian fintech startup that offers wage advances for employees who cannot wait until their traditional payday for money. Customers who use this feature are charged a 5% flat fee and 24% interest per annum. As of February 2024, Wagepay estimates that they've processed over $180M in advances for 310,000 users.
11. Lunar
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Funding: $485.9M (Series D)
What they do: Lunar is a Danish financial services startup marketed as “your other bank.” The free service provides digital banking and debit cards and touts low-interest rates, no unnecessary fees, and better visibility into transactions. Lunar boasts 325K+ Nordic users and announced a $210M Series D funding round in July 2021.
12. Selma Finance
5-year search growth: -25%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2016
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Funding: $12.2M (Equity Crowdfunding)
What they do: Selma Finance is an automated investment advisor that helps users allocate their investments. Founded in Finland, the Swiss-regulated company allows people to start with a relatively low minimum investment (2,000 Swiss francs). In early 2021, the company received an investment of 3.5M SF (about $3.7M) with plans to expand its product offerings to its current geographical audience.
13. Creditas
5-year search growth: 82%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2012
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Funding: $1.1B (Convertible Note)
What they do: Creditas is a Brazilian fintech startup that offers low-interest loans to its users. Valued at $1.75B as of December 2020, Creditas is one in a wave of Latin American finserve companies that have garnered investor interest in recent years, with money injected into this industry hitting $2.1B in 2020.
14. M1 Finance
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Funding: $323.2M (Series E)
What they do: M1 Finance is a multi-functional finance platform designed to help individuals manage their money better. The company—which enables investment, lets users borrow money, offers banking, and more—advertises low fees and strategies designed to help customers grow long-term wealth. With a $150M Series E in mid-2021, the company’s valuation hit $1.45B, giving it a unicorn status.
15. Chipper Cash
5-year search growth: 3,800%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: San Francisco, CA
Funding: $337.2M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Chipper Cash is a fintech startup that provides mobile-based, cross-border payment services in Africa. It allows users to send and receive money across countries, and also provides a virtual card for online purchases. The company aims to address the challenges of cross-border payments in Africa, which can be expensive and time-consuming, by offering a seamless and affordable solution for users.
16. Varo Money
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: $992.4M (Series E)
What they do: Varo Money is a neobank focused on democratizing finance with affordable banking solutions. Customers can join Varo Money without a credit check and use the bank’s services without fees or a minimum balance. In 2020, the startup officially received the green light from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to grow into a national bank, a milestone for fintech startups.
17. Chime
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2013
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: $2.3B (Series G)
What they do: Chime is a fintech startup that offers banking from Stride Bank and The Bancorp Bank and advertises no fees (even for overdrafts to a certain amount), credit building options, and early access to paychecks. The company raised $750M in a summer 2021 Series G and is eyeing an IPO in H1 2022.
18. Keeper Tax
5-year search growth: 8,400%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: $15.8M (Series A)
What they do: Keeper Tax is a service that can help identify available tax deductions for people who work on a contract or freelance basis. The startup allows professionals to keep track of potential write-offs throughout the year and also offers tax filing if desired. In April 2021, the company publicized their $13M Series A funding round, which they planned to use to advance hiring and their business as a whole.
19. Nash
5-year search growth: -9%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2017
Location: Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Funding: Undisclosed (Seed)
What they do: Nash is a digital financial services startup built on blockchain. The company gives users self-custody of their assets and offers services such as banking with 3.92% APY and the ability to trade cryptocurrency. Nash was started by Ethan Fast, a serial founder with a computer science Ph.D. from Stanford.
20. Vivid Money
5-year search growth: 271%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: Berlin, Germany
Funding: $185.7M (Series C)
What they do: Vivid Money is a German fintech startup that helps customers manage their money in several ways, including fractional investments, savings, payments with multiple currencies, and more. They provide users with a card that doesn’t have usual payment details on it. This card can be managed by the user and connected with several different payment apps. The startup raised $73M in mid-2021, reaching a valuation of nearly half a million dollars.
Conclusion
That wraps up this list of fast-growing companies in the personal finance space.
A significant theme that ties many of these startups together is the trend toward digital banking.
Whether a startup like Chime that partners with a traditional bank or a truly 21st-century institution like Varo that has achieved official bank status, it’s clear that the finance world is increasingly moving online.
