The fintech roller coaster—after a few years of barrel rolls and corkscrews—is on a solid upward swing, says Immad Akhund, fintech Mercury’s cofounder and CEO.

“It’s been a real roller coaster,” he said. “Fintech was super hot in 2020, 2021, and by the end of 2022, 2023, it was kind of dead…I feel like this year has seen a big resurgence, and so many companies and ideas from the 2020 era have reached significant maturity.” Akhund points out that some of 2025’s most successful IPOs, from Circle to Chime, were fintechs, adding: “I think excitement is back.”

That’s certainly evident not only in the public markets performance of companies like Chime, but in the private markets, where a number of fintech unicorns like Mercury are once again attracting capital. (In March, Mercury raised its Se

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