Boston is becoming an emerging leader in the fintech startup scene. Startups such as Algorand, Flywire, Own Up, Lendbuzz and Numerated have seen tremendous growth right in our own backyard. Below we’ve highlighted startups to watch, movers and shakers in the fintech startup scene, where you should go to network with other like-minded professionals, and investors in the Boston fintech startup space.
FinTech Startups to Watch
The fintech scene is rapidly growing in Boston and the surrounding area. Here are a few new up-and-coming fintech startups you’ll want to keep your eyes on:
InstaKin - creates access and direct payments for migrant communities globally. Founded in 2020
Monit - a mobile tool that helps your small business customers improve their cashflow and manage their finances with the latest in smart, predictive technology. Founded in 2019.
Physis Investment - leverages data to help investors understand, track, and measure the impact of investments through our online platform. Founded in 2019.
Raise Green - a financial technology platform for community-driven project finance. Founded in 2018
Stride Funding - offer students an innovative alternative to traditional student loans. Founded in 2018.
Stackwell - an early-stage fintech startup on a mission to attack the racial wealth gap by empowering a new community of Black investors. Founded in 2020 with a launch date in early 2022.
Tally Street - provides a virtual analyst that helps convert sales into cash by using data to anticipate problems before they happen. Founded in 2019.
Vested - helps employees get the most out of their equity. Founded in 2019.
Wunderite - a data exchange that aims to bring efficiency to the commercial insurance marketplace, transparency to stakeholders, and actionable insight to decision makers. Founded in 2018.
There are so many fintech startups in Boston, New England and beyond! The innovation does not stop with this list.
Movers and Shakers in the FinTech Space
Keep your pulse on what the local startup scene is saying. There are some Twitter handles you’ll want to follow!
Abdul Abdirahman - on LinkedIn - fintech enthusiast and early stage tech investor at F-Prime Capital, on the investment team at FinTech Collective
Christina Qi - @christinaqi - CEO of Databento, an on-demand market data platform. She formerly founded Domeyard LP, a hedge fund focused on high frequency trading (HFT) that traded up to $7.1 billion USD per day.
David Jegen - on LinkedIn - co-founder of FinTech Sandbox, a nonprofit that drives global FinTech innovation and collaboration
Deniz Johnson - @denizajohnson - fintech executive, COO at Stratyfy, and Adjunct Faculty for Fintech and Financial Innovation at Northeastern University
Drew Volpe - @drewvolpe - VC at First Star VC, interested in data, ML, Bitcoin and web3
Jean Donnelly - on LinkedIn - former Executive Director of FinTech Sandbox, currently COO at Sandbox Banking
Kosta Ligris - @kligris - the CEO and cofounder of Stavvy, a financial services and consumer lending startup
Matt Harris - @mattcharris - writes articles on financial services and the future of banking both on Medium and on Twitter, also a VC focused on financial services
Mike Massaro - on LinkedIn - the CEO of Flywire, a modern fintech payment platform
Mona Vernon - on LinkedIn - SVP of Fidelity Investments and Head of Fidelity Labs
Ron Shevlin - @rshevlin - senior contributor at Forbes, where he covers payments, fintech and banking
Sallie Krawcheck - @SallieKrawcheck - CEO and cofounder of Ellevest, a financial company built by women for women
Sarah Biller - on LinkedIn - Executive Director of Vantage Ventures, Investor in WalletFi and cofounder of FinTech Sandbox
Scarlett Sieber - on LinkedIn - fintech contributor at Forbes, contributor at The Financial Brand
Silvio Micali - @silviomicali - founder of Algorand, an open source, permissionless, pure PoS blockchain protocol designed for the future of finance
Networking Groups, Accelerators and Incubators for FinTech Startups
Are you interested in the fintech scene? Perhaps the founder or a startup employee at a fintech startup? These are a few networking groups, accelerators and programs you may want to check out:
Boston Blockchain Association - a community of innovators, collaborators and entrepreneurs excited about blockchain technology
Boston Blockchain Week - an annual conference bringing together the fintech and blockchain community
Boston FinTech - a monthly meetup with the Boston fintech community
Boston FinTech Week - this is a annual conference that happens during the fall, Boston FinTech Week brings together DeFi, sustainable finance, insurtech, embedded finance, regtech, ESG, financial health and more segments of the fintech community
Boston RegTech Meetup - a meetup bringing together a community of entrepreneurs and others interested in regulatory technology, financial services and fintech
Fidelity Labs - Fidelity Investments’ in-house fintech incubator
FinTech Sandbox - an organization helping fintech startups access data and build great products
Fintech Women - an inclusive community helping women in fintech advance professionally and build a successful and diverse ecosystem
MassChallenge FinTech - an accelerator program created for enterprise-ready fintech startups
Mass Fintech Hub - bringing together a diverse community of FinTech innovators
MIT Bitcoin Expo - bringing together the bitcoin and fintech community, organized by the MIT Bitcoin Club
MIT FinTech Conference - an annual conference organized by MIT students; consists of speaker events, a hackathon, a business plan competition, and more!
Do you know a group we’re missing that should be here? Contact us and let us know.
Investors in FinTech
Below are a few firms that invest in fintech startups in the Boston and New England area:
BankTech Ventures - funds solutions for community banks and bank technology
Converge - has made several investments in fintech, crypto and blockchain
F-Prime Capital - invests in fintech, enterprise IT, frontier tech and health IT
First Star Ventures - invests startups solving real-world problems using data and machine learning, also invests in AI, computational biotech, connected sensors, AR/VR and blockchain
Indicator Ventures - invests pre-seed and seed stage startups across digital health, enterprise tech and fintech
Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures - invest in early-stage software, platform and services companies with a focus in insurance
MassMutual Ventures - invests in enterprise software, cybersecurity, financial technology and digital health companies
Mendoza Ventures - invests in fintech, AI and cybersecurity
Spark Capital - invests in fintech, crypto and frontier tech, among other focuses
Vestigo Ventures - invests in startups that will shape the future of fintech
Keep Your Pulse on the FinTech Startup Scene
The fintech landscape in Boston is ever-changing. We’ll always try to keep our resources updated here but if there is a resource you know of that we missed then please drop us a line here and let us know. We appreciate your help!