Investing in Top Fintech Companies

Fintech is a combination of the words finance and technology. Fintech stocks represent shares in publicly traded financial technology businesses.

Fintech is a broad category made up of companies that apply new technology to financial businesses. Companies that develop new digital payment-processing solutions are considered fintech. So are companies that build and operate person-to-person payment applications. And these are just two examples.

The potential of fintech is exciting. You might be surprised at how many cash-based transactions are still happening around the world, and how many people still have their savings at brick-and-mortar banks that barely pay any interest.

In this article, we'll take a look at the different types of fintech stocks and some specific examples of promising fintech stocks you can buy right now.

Types of fintech stocks

Types of fintech stocks

As mentioned, fintech is a broad term that refers to any company that applies technology to the world of finance. Here are some of the products and services fintech stocks might offer:

• Payment processing.
• Online and mobile banking.
• Online and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending.
• Person-to-person payments.
• Financial software.
• Financial services.

Five top fintech stocks in 2025

Five top fintech stock investments in 2025

There's a ton of long-term potential in the fintech industry. And there are some fintech stocks that look like especially strong opportunities right now, especially with interest rates elevated and consumers cutting back on discretionary purchases.

With that in mind, here are five fintech stocks that you might want to take a closer look at:

1. Block

1. Block

Formerly known as Square, Block's (XYZ -1.39%) product suite has evolved from a way for merchants to accept credit cards using their mobile phones into a large-scale financial ecosystem for individuals and small businesses.

Block now processes payments for merchants at an annualized rate of more than $250 billion, has its own banking subsidiary (Square Financial Services), and a thriving small business lending platform.

Cash App is especially interesting, with 57 million active monthly users as of mid-2025 and virtually unlimited potential to build out its consumer financial service offerings. The platform already offers direct deposits, debit cards, the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC -1.79%), and a user-friendly stock trading platform. Cash App could still be in the early stages of monetization and could have major upside potential in the future.

2. PayPal

2. PayPal

PayPal Holdings (PYPL 0.13%) is the undisputed leader in online payments -- and so much more. Its Venmo person-to-person payment platform has emerged as an industry leader, and its namesake PayPal brand continues to innovate the ways we pay for things both online and off.

PayPal has a completely new executive leadership team that has been quite active when it comes to looking for ways to reinvigorate the business's growth. So far, the team has successfully boosted efficiency and has rolled out exciting initiatives such as Fastlane checkout and the creation of an advertising platform.

With more than $11 billion in cash and investments on the balance sheet and more than $6 billion in annualized free cash flow, PayPal has the financial flexibility to pursue opportunities as they arise.

PayPal has 438 million active accounts in more than 200 countries around the world. In a nutshell, this is a highly profitable industry leader, and there's no reason to believe that will change anytime soon.

3. Bank of America

3. Bank of America

This one might sound odd at first. When many people think of Bank of America (BAC 0.51%), they think of old-school banking -- literally the opposite of fintech innovation.

However, there are some good reasons Bank of America is more of a fintech than it seems. CEO Brian Moynihan and his team have done a great job of improving asset quality and focusing on efficiency. Technology has played a big role. Bank of America has been named the No. 1 bank for "Online Banking and Mobile Banking Functionality" by Javelin, as well as the "Best Consumer Digital Bank in the U.S." by Global Finance.

As more customers take advantage of the bank's excellent digital channels, the business will become more efficient. With a valuation that's cheaper than many other large banks and a 2.4% dividend yield as of mid-2025, Bank of America is an outside-the-box fintech worth considering.

4. Adyen

4. Adyen

Adyen (ADYE.Y -0.18%) isn't exactly a household name to most U.S. investors, but it certainly belongs in the same conversations as Block and PayPal.

Based in the Netherlands, Adyen provides payment processing solutions to businesses and has operations around the world (including a large U.S. presence). It offers payment solutions for in-person, online, and mobile channels. But, unlike the other major payment processing tech companies, Adyen focuses almost exclusively on large businesses. Microsoft (MSFT -0.65%), Uber (UBER -2.28%), and McDonald's (MCD 0.46%) all rely on Adyen for their payment processing needs. You may recall that eBay dropped PayPal as its preferred payment processor several years ago; that was in favor of Adyen.

Adyen's growth has been impressive, and the business processes almost $1.5 trillion in annualized payment volume. Plus, Adyen is highly profitable, with a 50% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin last year that could get even better as the business scales.

5. MercadoLibre

5. MercadoLibre

MercadoLibre (MELI 0.08%) is often referred to as the Amazon (AMZN -1.16%) of Latin America, and the nickname certainly makes sense. The company has a massive e-commerce business, with about $60 billion in annualized merchandise sales volume, and it continues to grow at an impressive pace.

The company also has a logistics platform (Mercado Envios) and a lending business (Mercado Credito), both of which have gained serious traction in recent years. Mercado Credito is especially interesting, with 91% year-over-year growth in the credit portfolio in mid-2025.

However, it's perhaps the Mercado Pago payments platform that is most exciting, at least from a fintech perspective. The business processes more than $250 billion in annualized payment volume and is growing at a much faster rate than the e-commerce business.

ETFs

One great fintech ETF to consider

Whenever you have a high-growth and relatively young industry, it can seem intimidating for investors to try choosing one or two stocks.

With that in mind, an alternative that lets you profit from the fintech boom without having to pick individual stocks can be an exchange-traded fund (ETF). One example is the Global X Fintech ETF (FINX 0.24%). This ETF:

• The fund invests in a portfolio of fintech companies and holds 62 stocks as of August 2025.
• The portfolio includes a few of the names on the list above, as well as several other big players in fintech.
• All the companies have excellent potential, but you won't get crushed if one or two of them perform poorly.

Related investing topics

A great arena for long-term growth investors

Investing in fintech stocks isn’t for investors with a low tolerance for volatility and risk. Like any exciting growth industry, fintech is likely to be a bit of a roller-coaster ride as the industry matures.

However, for long-term investors with relatively high risk tolerance, fintech stocks such as those mentioned here can be an excellent means of capitalizing on one of the most exciting growth trends in the business world.

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