Thanks to advances in mobile technology, the fintech industry has exploded in the last couple of decades. As the tech savvy millennial generation aged, banking and financial options evolved as well and once rare perks like mobile banking became the industry standard.
But banks aren't the only financial institutions that have made tech-driven changes. Entire markets — from digital loans and mobile stock services to e-commerce payment platforms and digital currency exchanges — are rooted in digital financial access.
To learn more about what the current space looks like, check out these top fintech companies and startups revolutionizing the industry.
Avant
Industry: Loans
Location: Chicago
What they do: Avant is a loan service for middle-income consumers, offering loans ranging from $2,000-$35,000. The service operates largely as a resource for customers access funds for financial events like consolidating debt or paying unexpected bills. Avant requires only a simple application and approves loans in as little as one day.
Braintree
Industry: Payments
Location: Chicago
What they do: Braintree, a division of PayPal, provides payment services to businesses of all sizes. Accepting payment types ranging from credit cards to Venmo, its products help companies that operate online and as marketplaces to bolster security, prevent fraud and safeguard user information.
Circle
Industry: Cryptocurrency
Location: Boston
What they do: Circle is a crypto financial company whose guiding principal is that money should be open and free but secure. The company’s products — including a wide selection of coins that enable users to easily transfer money across countries and currencies — help even new crypto customers to invest in new currencies.
Enfusion
Industry: Software
Location: Chicago
What they do: Enfusion's completely integrated investment management platform assists hedge funds, institutional asset managers and family offices with compliance, trading, risk management, operations and even accounting. Its goal in giving clients a complete view of their businesses is to enhance operational efficiency.
Guaranteed Rate
Industry: Mortgages, Lending
Location: Chicago
What they do: Guaranteed Rate is a mortgage provider and lending service that offers digital solutions to home buyers and those looking to refinance existing mortgages. The company's digital home mortgage enables customers to receive loan approval as well as upload and sign required documents — all online.
Morningstar
Industry: Investment, Research
Location: Chicago
What they do: Morningstar provides an array of products and services that connect everyday investors to professional-grade financial research and information so they can make better investment decisions.
OnDeck
Industry: Lending
Location: New York
What they do: OnDeck provides loan services exclusively to small businesses. Clients can apply for term loans and credit lines online to receive funding fast, often within a day.
PitchBook
Industry: Venture Capitalism, Investments, Software
Location: Seattle, Wash.
What they do: PitchBook is a financial software and data company that provides information about public and private equity markets. The platform enables companies, investors, advisors and professionals to capitalize on new business opportunities via due diligence research on private market intel, fundraising information and source investments.
TransferWise
Industry: Currency Exchange, Software
Location: New York (London HQ)
What they do: TransferWise moves money through its platform to other users all over the world at mid-market rates and with no unnecessary fees. In addition to individual users, TransferWise can be used by companies to invoice vendors regardless of currency.
Tala
Industry: Credit, Data, Software
Location: Santa Monica, Calif.
What they do: Tala provides credit access to people in underserved parts of the world like Kenya, the Philippines, Tanzania and Mexico. Through its app, the company employs alternative data to underwrite potential users that have no traditional credit history.
TransUnion
Industry: Credit
Location: Chicago
What they do: TransUnion began as a credit reporting agency and now offers multiple financial services and solutions for businesses, governments and individuals. Using data collected from millions of consumers around the world, the company provides deep information that helps consumers, companies and organizations make better financial decisions.
Verifi
Industry: Software, Payments
Location: Los Angeles
What they do: Verifi offers payment protection solutions and risk management services for companies of all sizes across multiple industries. The company's platform enables cardholders, issuers and merchants to access real-time data that provides quicker resolutions. Verifi also helps companies fight and stop chargebacks, securely process payments, fight fraud and increase billings.
Acorns
Industry: Savings, Investment, Mobile
Location: Irvine, Calif.
What they do: Acorns is a savings and investment mobile application. Linked to a user’s financial accounts, it invests change from purchases in a diversified portfolio. Other products and services include IRAs, debit accounts and informational content that enables users to invest automatically and learn as they go.
Billtrust
Industry: Payments
Location: Lawrenceville, N.J.
What they do: Billtrust provides payment cycle management solutions to business services, manufacturing, transportation, distribution and equipment companies. Billtrust aims to accelerate the invoice-to-cash process, automate cash flow, give a company’s customers more flexibility and enhance organizational and operational efficiency.
Carta
Industry: Investments, Software
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
What they do: Carta is a management platform for private and public companies as well as investment firms. Its products help businesses manage and track company and employee equity, manage portfolios and back office processes and keep current with SEC and IRS regulations.
Coinbase
Industry: Blockchain, Bitcoin
Location: San Francisco
What they do: Coinbase is an online platform for buying, selling and managing digital currency that provides users with secure mobile access to their digital assets. Coinbase supports 32 countries and has exchanged more than $150 billion in various forms of digital currency, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin.
CreditKarma
Industry: Credit Reporting
Location: San Francisco
What they do: Credit Karma offers users open access to credit scores, monitoring and reports, all for free and as often as a user needs it. Using this data, the site recommends new credit opportunities, loans, auto insurance and can even help dispute credit report errors.
GreenSky
Industry: Loans
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
What they do: GreenSky is a consumer and business-facing loan service. Besides providing home improvement loans to individuals, the company helps businesses in the healthcare, retail and home improvement markets offer financing options to customers.
Nerdwallet
Industry: Credit Cards, Mortgages, Insurance, Loans
Location: San Francisco
What they do: Nerdwallet provides a host of financial tools and services, including credit card and bank comparison, investing how-tos, loan information and mortgage advice. The company's services help consumers navigate the congested and often confusing worlds of finance, investment, insurance and banking.
Netspend
Industry: Prepaid Cards
Location: Austin Texas
What they do: Netspend's products enable individuals and businesses to manage money through reloadable prepaid cards. The company's services are especially useful for those who lack traditional bank accounts or rely on alternative banking methods.
Personal Capital
Industry: Software
Location: San Carlos, Calif.
What they do: Personal Capital provides free personal financial tools to help users manage all of their accounts in one place. The platform’s dashboards display such insights as net worth, portfolio balances, account transactions, investment returns and spending by account. The company also facilitates access to financial advisors.
Robinhood
Industry: Stocks
Location: Menlo Park, Calif.
What they do: Robinhood is a investment application that enables users to invest for free from a desktop or mobile device. Because there are no physical locations or individual account management services, Robinhood aims to make investing accessible to would-be traders that can’t quite swing the fees of a traditional brokerage house.
SoFi
Industry: Loans, Wealth Management
Location: San Francisco
What they do: SoFi provides refinancing, loan and wealth management services. In assessing a user's rates, the digital company looks at more than just incomes and credit histories. SoFi's algorithm takes into account factors like education, career and estimated cash flow when determining the likelihood of loan repayment. It also offers benefits for which most institutions charge extra or require large balances, including career services, unemployment protection, events and financial advising.
Stripe
Industry: Payments, Software
Location: San Francisco
What they do: Stripe's internet commerce platform provides tools for marketplaces, subscription services, e-commerce businesses and crowdfunding platforms. Millions of online businesses — including Pinterest, Warby Parker, Kickstarter, instacart and Squarespace — use the platform to manage payments and structure online billing processes.
Images via social media, Shutterstock and screenshots of company web pages.