Private fintech companies now generate more revenue than their publicly traded peers, according to a new report from FT Partners and Blue Dot Investors. The data suggests a “liquidity supercycle” is on the horizon, with exits expected to come through a mix of IPOs, acquisitions and secondary deals.
“The scale of the private market is the headline story,” said Sahej Suri, managing partner of Blue Dot Investors. "The top 100 private fintech companies in the world now generate approximately $174 billion in annual revenue, exceeding the roughly $158 billion generated by their public peers."
For the first time, the 100 largest private fintech companies are generating more revenue than their public counterparts, bringing in about $174 billion, compared with roughly $158 billion for similar publicly traded firms founded since 2006. With a combined valuation of $1.9 trillion, these private companies are no longer considered startups, but mature businesses ready for public market entry or acquisition.
While the IPO window has reopened, it’s on very different terms than before. Twenty-six fintech companies have listed in the U.S. since 2024, including Klarna, Chime and Circle. Median revenue at IPO has reached $673 million, 3.4 times higher than companies that went public between 2011 and 2019.
For IPOs, “the bar is meaningfully higher than it's ever been,” said Suri. Steve McLaughlin, founder and managing partner of FT Partners, called it a “flight to quality,” noting that the fintech companies going public today are larger, more efficient and more profitable than prior cohorts.
Meanwhile, fintech secondary market volume nearly quadrupled in 2025, rising to $864 million from $232 million the year before, according to data from Caplight Technologies cited in the report. But that activity is heavily concentrated, with just 10 fintech firms accounting for roughly 96% of executed volume — leaving much of the sector with no clear path to liquidity.
“There's a long tail of really great companies ... that are trapped to an extent,” Suri said. “You've got pressure from early investors that need liquidity, and there's not really a robust secondaries program.”
Fintech-to-fintech deal activity hit 659 transactions in 2025, the highest in at least a decade and up 4.4 times over that period, as bigger companies increasingly snap up specialized competitors.
McLaughlin said the dynamic is also being driven by founders who want out before AI disruption hits.
“There are definitely CEOs that we're talking to who worry that, over the course of time, because they're not AI-first, that some AI-first company will get created ... and do a clone of them,” he said. "While that hasn't happened, people are thinking about selling."
Founders are also cashing out earlier than before. Many, he said, are now willing to sell before reaching unicorn status by taking a significant payout and then starting their next company.
Suri said the pressure on investors to return capital will continue to build. Funds backing the peak 2014-2018 fintech formation years are now past their 10-year lifecycle, with no clear exit in sight for many of their holdings. But he remains bullish on what comes next.
“Financial services is the biggest profit pool of any industry in the world,” he said. “If you believe technology will continue to be a disruptive force ... this intersection is here to stay, and we are watching some of the generation's best companies continue to execute. I think there's a lot more to come.”
