Nine payments companies made Forbes’ Fintech 50 2023 list, up from six in 2022. Niche newcomers GlossGenius, a platform for beauty businesses, and Mudflap, a fuel marketplace for truckers, join the likes of giant processor Stripe.
The world of payments is evolving rapidly as fintech startups race to incorporate more useful functions–beyond online payment processing–into their offerings, with the aim of enabling non-financial businesses to do more at the point of sale. Consider GlossGenius, a newcomer to this year’s Fintech 50 list. Its software, designed specifically for independently run beauty businesses, includes appointment bookings, expense management and financial reporting tools, along with payment processing done with handheld readers boasting stylish designs (e.g. a cheetah print) suited to the industry. The buzz around merging payments with that sort of customer assistance, also called embedded finance, has helped GlossGenius secure $44 million in total funding and a $360 million valuation. (It probably doesn’t hurt that its founder is a Princeton economics grad who did a stint at Goldman Sachs. You can read more about her and other founders who are new to the list here.)
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