CNBC
If you had any lingering doubts about the growth of fintech, take a peek at Tuesday night’s earnings reports from two newly-public companies.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reported a 12-fold increase in revenue from a year earlier to $2.23 billion. Not to be outdone, online lender Upstart Holdings said revenue climbed 11-fold from a year ago to $194 million.
These numbers are staggering.
For companies of this scale to even double annually requires being in the right place at the right time with the right team, and often means a hefty infusion of capital to acquire new customers. The most successful tech companies of all time never saw growth rates in the quadruple digits while public.
Amazon’s top growth was around 300% in 1998, shortly after its IPO. Google’s revenue doubled in its first few quarters on the market in 2004 and 2005 before tapering off. Facebook never got into triple-digits growth after going public.
Even in the pandemic-fueled year of 2020 — when new users flocked to digital work and exercise products — Zoom’s growth topped out at 369% and Peloton’s at 232%.