67 Best Challenger Bank Startups to Watch in 2025

The Definitive Seedtable Ranking of Challenger Bank Startups

We track 71,000+ companies and rank them dynamically using our Seedtable Score – a score that uses quantitative and qualitative data points to signal the momentum behind a company. We then monitor the list manually leveraging our expertise as founders and investors.

There are 733 start-ups with an aggregate funding of $41.4b. The average funding per company in this subset is $618.3m.

Last update to the database: Feb 18, 2025. See changelog.

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6

Funding Rounds

$799.8m

Money raised

A bank offering online banking services with no user no bank fees, and an option to receive direct deposit up to two days early. Chris Britt and Ryan King founded Chime in 2013, and the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

20

Funding Rounds

$3.8b

Money raised

Klarna is a financial technology company providing e-commerce payment solutions for merchants and shoppers.

Location:

Key people:

10

Funding Rounds

$1.3b

Money raised

Brex is a credit card company that issues corporate credit cards with no security deposit.

Location:

Key people:

9

Funding Rounds

$81.5m

Money raised

Kasisto is a company that develops conversational AI for financial institutions.

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Key people:

9

Funding Rounds

$1.1b

Money raised

Circle is a peer-to-peer payments technology company that is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville.

Location:

Key people:

3

Funding Rounds

$93.0m

Money raised

Personetics' self-driving finance platform for banks to anticipate a customer's personalized banking needs through artificial intelligence.

Key people:

6

Funding Rounds

$898.4m

Money raised

Wise, previously TransferWise, is a company that offers money transfers services founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus.

5

Funding Rounds

$16.7m

Money raised

Tracxn is a research firm that provides information, mostly startup data, for venture capitalists and corporate development offices.

Key people:

14

Funding Rounds

$2.5b

Money raised

N26 is a is a mobile banking company headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Location:

Key people:

12

Funding Rounds

$1.7b

Money raised

Revolut is a London-based Fintech startup and bank offering mobile banking, card payments, money remittance, and foreign exchange services.

Location:

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4

Funding Rounds

$126.0m

Money raised

Mercury is a company making banking products for startups based in San Francisco and backed by a16z.

Key people:

10

Funding Rounds

$1.1b

Money raised

Starling is an UK-based mobile-first digital banking startup.

12

Funding Rounds

$507.3m

Money raised

Acorns is an Irvine, California-based micro-investing company allowing users to round up consumer purchases and invest the change.

1

Funding Rounds

$71.0m

Money raised

Yapstone provides flexible and customizable payment solutions.

Key people:

12

Funding Rounds

$914.3m

Money raised

GoCardless is a payments company that developed global payments network based on the bank to bank payment systems. It participated in the S11 cohort of Y Combinator

Location:

Key people:

2

Funding Rounds

$3.2m

Money raised

The first free European open banking API that provides regulated connections to major European banks.

Industries:

Location:

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6

Funding Rounds

$324.5m

Money raised

MoneyLion is a mobile banking platform for borrowing, saving, and investing.

4

Funding Rounds

$118.2m

Money raised

Railsr, formerly Railsbank, is a London-based open-API banking and compliance platform that gives regulated and un-regulated companies access to global bankings.

2

Funding Rounds

$55.0m

Money raised

Strands developed FinTech software that enables banks to offer digital banking using big data, processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and open API.

11

Funding Rounds

$588.7m

Money raised

Branch offers microloans through a free-to-download Android app in emerging markets.

Key people:

11

Funding Rounds

$2.4b

Money raised

Creditas is a Brazilian financial technology firm offering secured consumer loans.

Location:

Key people:

4

Funding Rounds

$6.5m

Money raised

A digital fertility clinic offering semen analysis, sperm improvement, and sperm cryostorage services. Founded at Harvard in 2018, the company has raised $20M from investors like Y Combinator, Bain Capital Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and celebrities like Justin Bieber.

Key people:

3

Funding Rounds

$31.0m

Money raised

Azimo is an online remittance service founded by Marta Krupinska.

8

Funding Rounds

$1.0b

Money raised

Varo is a San Francisco-based mobile banking business allowing customers to pay their bills, cover their expenses and build their wealth.

4

Funding Rounds

$48.0m

Money raised

Hearsay Systems (formerly Hearsay Social) is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) digital marketing platform for financial services that uses predictive analytics to help financial advisors automate marketing tasks.

Key people:

14

Funding Rounds

$4.1b

Money raised

A financial technology company offering a mobile-first platform for payments through a single API and SDK.

Location:

Key people:

4

Funding Rounds

$8.6m

Money raised

Artificial Intelligence company for real estate site analysis.

3

Funding Rounds

$260.0m

Money raised

Ocrolus is a solution provider of automated document reviews in the financial services industry.

12

Funding Rounds

$1.2b

Money raised

Greenlight Financial Technology is an Atlanta-based company offering a debit cards for kids parents can manage by app.

7

Funding Rounds

$135.6m

Money raised

Tasso is a Seattle-based manufacturer and supplier of blood-based diagnostic tools.

6

Funding Rounds

$687.3m

Money raised

Qonto is a French online payment institution for freelancers and small and medium enterprises.

Location:

Key people:

6

Funding Rounds

$1.8b

Money raised

Signature Bank is a New York City-based company founded in 2023.

Industries:

Location:

Key people:

14

Funding Rounds

$1.2b

Money raised

Zopa is a peer-to-peer lending platform founded in 2005 by Giles Andrews.

Location:

Key people:

1

Funding Rounds

Moni is a mobile money transfer app for iOS and Android based out of London, England. It was launched to the general public by Laurence Aderemi and Fernando Saturno in 2015.

1

Funding Rounds

$1.0m

Money raised

Kiva is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Location:

Key people:

10

Funding Rounds

$2.5b

Money raised

Tipalti automates the way companies pay suppliers, partners, publishers and employees with cloud-based solutions which addresses all phases of the payables workflow.

Key people:

5

Funding Rounds

$169.6m

Money raised

Unit is a San Francisco-based company developing a platform that allows companies to integrate banking services into their businesses.

Key people:

16

Funding Rounds

$1.6b

Money raised

Monzo is a digital banking platform founded in 2015 by Jason Bates, Tom Blomfield, Jonas Huckestein and Paul Rippon.

Location:

Key people:

12

Funding Rounds

$84.9m

Money raised

Penta is a digital bank account for startups and SMEs in Germany.

9

Funding Rounds

$646.6m

Money raised

Machine learning platform for data scientists and engineers to help create enterprise AI.

Location:

Key people:

3

Funding Rounds

$80.0m

Money raised

Lili is a banking company founded by Liran Zelkha.

Location:

Key people:

4

Funding Rounds

$22.1m

Money raised

Wyre is a San Francisco-based developer of a payment platform on blockchain founded by Michael Dunworth and Ioannis Giannaros.

2

Funding Rounds

$9.8m

Money raised

dealroom is a Netherlands-based company founded by Yoram Wijngaarde.

Key people:

5

Funding Rounds

$66.0m

Money raised

Developer of an open banking API platform intended to access and interpret data from end-users in an easy and scalable way.

4

Funding Rounds

$94.9m

Money raised

Rho is a New York-based digital banking service for entrepreneurs.

Key people:

4

Funding Rounds

$140.3m

Money raised

Novo focuses on giving a banking option to startups and small business owners, founded by Michael Rangel and Tyler McIntyre.

3

Funding Rounds

$228.7m

Money raised

Neo Financial is a Calgary-based financial technology company founded in 2019.

Location:

Key people:

4

Funding Rounds

$64.0m

Money raised

FairMoney is a Paris-based start-up which offers micro loans in Nigeria through their mobile, Android app.

1

Funding Rounds

$20.0k

Money raised

BailPort is a mobile wallet solution offering intra-Africa cross-border and in-country money transfers with multi-currencies to provide access to cryptocurrency, personal loans, and travel insurance.

1

Funding Rounds

Nayax is a global FinTech company, developing solutions for the unattended machine industry. Nayax's cashless payments, telemetry, management & BI solutions fits to any machine from around the globe. Established in 2005, Nayax has over 250,000 devices installed worldwide, operating in more than 50 countries and 26 currencies and offers local support and ensure that all our customers receive the highest level of service in their local region. Attending the Unattended: Unattended machines, an unattended customer. Nayax's line of innovative products are designed (in-house) to remotely manage the machines and bring you closer to your customer. Nayax offers cashless and telemetry solutions including debit and credit cards, mobile, SMS, prepaid cards and NFC payment options. Point-of-sale options include swipe, contact or contactless card payment methods. Accepting virtually all forms of payment. No need to deal with banks, credit fees, telecom payments and more. Nayax works with leading global payment processors in order to provide the best cashless services at highly competitive rates. Function and benefits: The Nayax management & BI suite allows for online machine management, real time status reports and customized alerts for different machine events such as vend outs, low/high temperature. Advanced analytics tools provide actionable insights including the ability to forecast inventory issues based on historical data and compare products and costs while seeing growth in sales by location. Visit-to-visit reports enable smarter machine management without spending time and money on unnecessary trips. Nayax is constantly developing innovative approaches to surpass industry expectations and create loyalty between consumers and machine operators. Nayax listens to its customers to ensure satisfaction. The development, sales and support processes are customer oriented to contribute to the company's growth strategy.

5

Funding Rounds

$81.5m

Money raised

A blockchain platform for exchanging financial information without sharing data. It is located in Marina Del Rey, California and was founded in 2017.

Key people:

8

Funding Rounds

$37.1m

Money raised

A financial service software company that aids users in preventing or refunding bank fees that users may incurred. It is located in San Francisco, California and was founded in 2016.

8

Funding Rounds

$587.0m

Money raised

Upgrade is a neo-bank offering affordable credit to consumers.

Key people:

3

Funding Rounds

$41.9m

Money raised

World\'s leading subscription management platform - ready to integrate with retail banks.

4

Funding Rounds

$16.5m

Money raised

Multis is a company that has created a cryptocurrency bank for companies. It was founded in 2018 and is located in San Francisco, California.

10

Funding Rounds

$2.5b

Money raised

Celonis is company designing an intelligent big data technology analyzing and visualizing company processes.

Industries:

Location:

7

Funding Rounds

$1.1b

Money raised

Also known as Viva Republica, Toss provides a peer-to-peer mobile payments platform in Korea.

Location:

5

Funding Rounds

$81.0m

Money raised

Bench is a company founded in 2012 by Jordan Menashy, Pavel Rodionov, Adam Saint and Ian Crosby.

4

Funding Rounds

$190.1m

Money raised

Earnin is a Palo Alto, California-based mobile banking company giving users access to their pay directly from mobile application.

Key people:

2

Funding Rounds

$9.2m

Money raised

A company that measures an individual's credit score based on financial behavior. It is located in London, England and was founded in 2015.

Location:

Key people:

8

Funding Rounds

$435.0m

Money raised

An online-investment adviser registered by the u.s. securities and exchange commission

1

Funding Rounds

$10.0m

Money raised

Mozn (مزن) is a Saudi RegTech company that harnesses the power of Artificial Intelligence to innovate and build Products and Solutions for the advancement of digital humanity. Mozn builds advanced Artificial Intelligence products and solutions to empower enterprises in making critical decisions.

7

Funding Rounds

$73.0m

Money raised

Plum is the AI assistant that boosts your bank balance. It analyses your income and outgoings and automatically sets small safe amounts of money aside for you. You can also invest* in hand-picked funds and switch your bills to better deals instantly. We estimate that, with the help of Plum, you can be ᅢï3⁄4'ï¿'ï3⁄4£186k better off over your lifetime! So how does Plum work? (1) Link your current account: Plum analyses your account so it can learn about your income, expenses and spending patterns. Your data is safe with us œ we employ bank-grade security and work with the main UK banks and challengers like Monzo and Revolut. (2) Plum sets money aside for you: Plum monitors your current account and every few days moves some money, if you can afford to, to your Plum account. You can access that money instantly at any time, so you don't have to worry about unexpected expenses. (3) Chat with Plum: Plum notifies you about your balance, gives you super-fast access to your money and offers tips on how to save more. Plum is available on iOS and Android. You can find out more at https://withplum.com/ *Capital invested is at risk and not FSCS protected

13

Funding Rounds

$1.0b

Money raised

Atom Bank is a digital financial company offering personal and business banking products.

Location:

Key people:

8

Funding Rounds

$265.0m

Money raised

Juni is a fintech company that develops a banking app and platform for e-commerce and online marketing entrepreneurs.

7

Funding Rounds

$23.0m

Money raised

Form3 is a cloud-native account-to-account payments platform founded in 2016 by Michael Mueller.

Location:

Key people:

8

Funding Rounds

$276.2m

Money raised

Feedzai is a San Mateo, California-based Information Technology & Services company.

Key people:

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