15 Harvard-Founded FinTech Unicorns Worth $130B+
Unpacking Harvard's Success as a FinTech Powerhouse
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Since 2019, 29 Harvard-founded startups have gone public, with a combined value at the time of IPO exceeding $282B. Additionally, 51 more unicorns remain in private markets.
In a previous post, we explored Harvard’s success in Health Tech, featuring $100B+ in outcomes including companies like Peloton, Fitbit, WHOOP, Strava, Oscar Health, 23andMe, and more. In this post, I unpack Harvard’s success in FinTech—a sector where 15 Harvard-founded unicorns are worth over $130B!
15 Harvard-Founded FinTech Unicorns Worth $130B+
15 FinTech startups founded by Crimson entrepreneurs are currently valued over $1B. Among the list are titans of the FinTech ecosystem, including companies like Stripe, Rippling, Affirm, and Ramp. Also represented are consumer staples, like Stash Financial, Betterment, and Truebill.
B2B vs B2C Breakdown
Of the 15 Harvard-founded FinTech unicorns, the split between B2B and B2C is about equal with 8 (53%) operating in B2C and 7 (47%) focusing on B2B.
Sub-Sector Breakdown
Among the 15 Harvard-founded FinTech unicorns, 5 specialize in banking and payments, 4 focus on consumer wealth management, 3 are lending platforms, and the remaining 3 operate in areas such as remittances and B2B FinTech software.
Breakdown by School
Harvard College has produced 8 of the 15 FinTech unicorns, with a combined valuation of $110 billion, followed by Harvard Business School, which has 7 FinTech unicorns valued at $22 billion. Additionally, Harvard Law School has contributed 1 FinTech unicorn worth $1 billion.
Company Details
(private valuations = latest financing; public = time of IPO)
Stripe, co-founded by John Collison (College), valued at $70B
Rippling, co-founded by Parker Conrad (College), valued at $13.5B
Affirm, co-founded by Alex Rampell (College), valued at $12B
Ramp, co-founded by Eric Glyman (College), valued at $7.7B
Remitly, co-founded by Matthew Oppenheimer (HBS), valued at $6.9B
Upgrade, co-founded by Jeff Bogan (HBS), valued at $6.3B
Coda Payments, co-founded by Neil Davidson (College + HBS), valued at $2.5B
Modern Treasury, co-founded by Dimitri Dadiomov (HBS), valued at $2B
Altruist, co-founded by Jason Wenk (HBS), valued at $1.5B
Zip, co-founded by Rujul Zaparde (College), valued at $2.2B
Stash, co-founded by David Ronick (HBS), valued at $1.4B
CoinTracker, co-founded by Chandan Lodha (College), valued at $1.3B
Betterment, co-founded by Jonathan Stein (College), valued at $1.3B
Truebill, co-founded by Haroon Mokhtarzada (HLS), valued at $1.3B
Sunbit, co-founded by Tal Riesenfeld (HBS), valued at $1.1B
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