Best Alternative Lending Companies in San Francisco, United States
The 212 best Alternative Lending companies in San Francisco, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: SoFi.
Ranked: Best Alternative Lending companies in San Francisco
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founded | Founder | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SoFi Online bank offering consumer loans and insurances | $3.0B | 28 mo ago | 3,066 3,066 → 6,780 (+121%) · sector median +33% | 2011 | Benedict Copping Founder | — | 1 launch · 1 partnership · 1 award |
| 2 | Tradeshift 🦄 Provider of cloud platform for e-invoicing, AP automation, and global compliance | $1.2B | 34 mo ago | — | 2010 | Gert Sylvest Co-founder | — | 1 award |
| 3 | Affirm Provider of point of sale financing solutions for consumers and merchants | $1.2B | 69 mo ago | 2,171 2,171 → 3,131 (+44%) · sector median +33% | 2012 | Max Levchin Co-Founder & CEO | 144 patents Patents concentrated in computing, sensing & instrumentation | 1 launch · 1 partnership |
| 4 | Divvy 🦄 Online platform for rent-to-buy solutions for residential properties 53Talent top 19%Funding top 26%Moat top 26%Tech top 33% All 8 signals ▾Talenttop 19% Fundingtop 26% Moattop 26% Techtop 33% Marketbottom 49% Globalbottom 43% Growthbottom 32% Newsbottom 32% Talent: Analyst team rating 5/5 · 5 named leaders on record Funding: Raised $1.2B across 5 rounds · 5 rounds over 8 yrs (0.6/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 53/100 | $1.2B | 58 mo ago | 71 | 2017 | Ricardo A Co-Founder | — | — |
| 5 | Credit Karma 🦄 Credit score checking and comparison platform for financial products | $870M | 98 mo ago | 1,346 1,346 → 1,879 (+40%) · sector median +33% | 2007 | Ryan Graciano Co-Founder | 10 patents Analyzes mobile device and telematics data for driver behavior and collision reconstruction. | — |
| 6 | Fundbox 🦄 AI-based platform for business loans | $734M | 54 mo ago | 78 | 2013 | Prashant Fuloria CEO | — | 1 launch · 1 partnership · 1 award |
| 7 | Upgrade 🦄 Provider of consumer credit and banking products 90Funding top 16%Growth top 17%Talent top 19%Customers top 20% All 10 signals ▾Fundingtop 16% Growthtop 17% Talenttop 19% Customerstop 20% Markettop 22% Producttop 24% Moattop 26% Innovationtop 39% Techtop 39% Globalbottom 46% Funding: Raised $600M across 6 rounds · 6 rounds over 9 yrs (0.7/yr) Growth: Headcount 250 → 602 (+141%) across vintages · Web rank 100,000 → 50,000 YoY rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 90/100 | $600M | 8 mo ago | 602 | 2016 | Matt Wierman Co-Founder and EVP | — | 1 award |
| 8 | Square Provider of integrated point of sale and business management solutions | $520M | 75 mo ago | 9,358 9,358 → 6,282 (-33%) · sector median +33% | 2009 | Jim McKelvey Co-Founder & Director | 2,095 patents Secure digital payment processing and POS integration, including tokenization and multi-device interfaces. | 1 launch · 3 partnerships |
| 9 | Prosper P2P Lending Marketplace | $489M | 43 mo ago | 360 360 → 490 (+36%) · sector median +33% | 2005 | Chris Larsen Co-Founder | — | 6 awards |
| 10 | Figure 🦄 Blockchain-based platform for consumer loans 89Innovation top 15%Funding top 16%Tech top 16%Patents top 18% All 11 signals ▾Innovationtop 15% Fundingtop 16% Techtop 16% Patentstop 18% Moattop 25% Growthtop 26% Producttop 28% Markettop 34% Talenttop 38% Customersbottom 43% Globalbottom 39% Innovation: 81 patents (top 7% of patent-holders) · 78 filings since 2022 vs 2 in 2017-21 Funding: Raised $435M across 8 rounds · 8 rounds over 8 yrs (1.0/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 89/100 | $435M | 12 mo ago | 463 463 → 623 (+35%) · sector median +33% | 2018 | June Ou Co-Founder | 81 patents Advanced humanoid robot mechanical design, joints, wiring, and head/neck assemblies | 1 award |
| 11 | Unlock Provider of home loan services | $400M | 33 mo ago | 95 | 2019 | — | — | 1 expansion |
| 12 | Unison Co-investment for buying a residential property | $256M | 59 mo ago | 40 | 2004 | Michael Choupak Co-Founder & CEO | 40 patents Aircraft turbine starter systems with fluid damping and containment safety mechanisms | 4 job openings |
| 13 | Kiavi Online platform for residential and commercial mortgages | $241M | 27 mo ago | 389 | 2013 | James Herbert Co-Founder | — | — |
| 14 | Taulia AI-based electronic invoicing and supply chain management solution for businesses | $220M | 63 mo ago | 185 185 → 124 (-33%) · sector median +33% | 2009 | Cedric Bru CEO & President | — | — |
| 15 | Lending Club P2P marketplace for consumer and business loans | $219M | 116 mo ago | 1,194 1,194 → 1,113 (-7%) · sector median +33% | 2006 | Scott Sanborn CEO & Chief Operating Officer & Chief Marketing Officer | — | 2 expansions · 1 award |
| 16 | LendUp Online marketplace for payday loans | $212M | 89 mo ago | 45 | 2012 | — | — | — |
| 17 | PayJoy Online platform for purchase financing 84Funding top 18%Tech top 18%Patents top 25%Moat top 28% All 10 signals ▾Fundingtop 18% Techtop 18% Patentstop 25% Moattop 28% Innovationtop 32% Producttop 32% Markettop 33% Globaltop 36% Growthtop 40% Newstop 49% Funding: Raised $204M across 12 rounds · 12 rounds over 11 yrs (1.1/yr) Tech: 77 technologies across 6/8 capability areas · Cloud: Amazon Alb, Amazon Web Services rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 84/100 | $204M | 6 mo ago | 101 | 2015 | — | 24 patents IoT-enabled remote access control and financing management for consumer appliances | — |
| 18 | Empower Financial technology empowering potential with cash advances, credit lines, and credit cards | $174M | 45 mo ago | 35 | 2016 | Warren Hogarth Co-Founder | 23 patents Pen-based data entry hardware, vehicle docking interfaces, and UI-driven data synchronization | — |
| 19 | Tally Online platform offering personal loans, banking, and debt management solutions | $172M | 44 mo ago | 94 | 2015 | — | 6 patents Electronic voting ballot style validation and verification systems | — |
| 20 | Noah Online platform for residential mortgage loans | $155M | 73 mo ago | 17 | 2016 | — | 7 patents Phase‑change thermal management, heat‑dissipation structures, and temperature‑difference power generation. | — |
| 21 | Slope Provider of credit infrastructure and cash flow scoring for business lending | $127M | 23 mo ago | 21 21 → 41 (+95%) · sector median +33% | 2021 | Lawrence Murata Co-Founder & CEO | — | 1 job opening · 2 partnerships |
| 22 | AutoFi Cloud-driven loan lifecycle management solution for automobile financing | $127M | 51 mo ago | 150 150 → 199 (+33%) · sector median +33% | 2015 | Mandar Gokhale CTO & Co-founder | 4 patents Digital interfaces for vehicle loan and lease transaction processing | — |
| 23 | NerdWallet App-based comparison platform for financial products | $123M | 66 mo ago | 730 730 → 735 (+1%) · sector median +33% | 2009 | Tim Chen CEO | — | — |
| 24 | Nova Credit Provider of unified consumer credit data infrastructure and analytics platform 50Funding top 21%Moat top 31%News top 33%Tech top 41% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 21% Moattop 31% Newstop 33% Techtop 41% Producttop 41% Growthtop 43% Globalbottom 45% Marketbottom 43% Talentbottom 41% Funding: Raised $121M across 7 rounds · 7 rounds over 10 yrs (0.7/yr) Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 8/10 · Soonicorn rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $121M | 8 mo ago | 51 51 → 119 (+133%) · sector median +33% | 2016 | Misha Esipov Co-Founder & CEO | — | 1 partnership |
| 25 | Insikt Developer of white label platform for online lending | $100M | 90 mo ago | 15 | 2012 | James Gutierrez Co-Founder | — | — |
| 26 | Parafin Provider of cloud-based platform for revenue-based financing 48Funding top 20%Tech top 32%Moat top 35%Product top 36% All 10 signals ▾Fundingtop 20% Techtop 32% Moattop 35% Producttop 36% Talentbottom 49% Growthbottom 47% Innovationbottom 46% Marketbottom 43% Globalbottom 37% Newsbottom 21% Funding: Raised $94.0M across 6 rounds · 6 rounds over 5 yrs (1.2/yr) Tech: 39 technologies across 5/8 capability areas · Cloud: Amazon S3, Amazon Ses rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 48/100 | $94M | 1 mo ago | 83 | 2020 | Sahill Poddar Co-Founder & CEO | — | 1 launch |
| 27 | Wisetack Provider of purchase financing solutions to consumers 62Funding top 23%Tech top 31%Moat top 31%Growth top 35% All 8 signals ▾Fundingtop 23% Techtop 31% Moattop 31% Growthtop 35% Talenttop 38% Marketbottom 45% Globalbottom 32% Newsbottom 18% Funding: Raised $91.2M across 5 rounds · 5 rounds over 7 yrs (0.7/yr) Tech: 41 technologies across 6/8 capability areas · Cloud: Amazon Ses, Amazon Web Services rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 62/100 | $91M | 8 mo ago | 119 119 → 134 (+13%) · sector median +33% | 2018 | Bobby Tzekin Co-Founder & CEO | — | 1 partnership |
| 28 | Candex Online platform for invoice financing 64Funding top 21%Product top 25%Innovation top 34%Growth top 35% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 21% Producttop 25% Innovationtop 34% Growthtop 35% Newstop 36% Moattop 39% Globaltop 49% Marketbottom 48% Techbottom 47% Funding: Raised $85.0M across 6 rounds · 6 rounds over 8 yrs (0.8/yr) Product: 4 distinct product lines · Company stage: Series C rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 64/100 | $85M | 3 mo ago | 102 | 2011 | — | — | 1 expansion · 2 awards |
| 29 | Resolve Corp Provider of B2B net terms financing and accounts receivable automation | $85M | 54 mo ago | 48 | 2006 | — | — | 3 partnerships |
| 30 | Kikoff Online platform for credit builder loans | $85M | 59 mo ago | 63 | 2011 | Christophe Chong Co-Founder & CTO | — | — |
| 31 | Mos Online discovery platform provider for college financial aid | $84M | 52 mo ago | 60 | 2017 | Amira Yahyaoui Founder - CEO | 86 patents Advanced compacted potash and micronutrient granular fertilizers with dust‑control technology | — |
| 32 | Aura Online credit-building loans platform | $83M | 75 mo ago | 15 | 2012 | — | — | — |
| 33 | Polly Provider of a capital markets platform for the mortgage industry | $77M | 21 mo ago | 102 | 2019 | Adam Carmel Founder & CEO | 6 patents Loan trading exchange platforms and multimedia search/visual similarity technologies | — |
| 34 | LoanSnap Online marketplace for residential & commercial mortgage loans | $64M | 61 mo ago | 102 | 2018 | Allan Carroll Co-Founder & CTO | — | — |
| 35 | EarnUp Online debt repayment platform for consumers | $59M | 51 mo ago | 36 36 → 22 (-39%) · sector median +33% | 2014 | Matthew Cooper Co-Founder & Board Member | — | — |
| 36 | ApplePie Capital Online lending marketplace for franchise loans | $45M | 56 mo ago | 70 | 2014 | — | — | 1 award |
| 37 | Bright Provider of financial technology solutions for debt reduction and credit building | $43M | 32 mo ago | 51 | 2019 | Varun Modi Co-Founder & CTO | 83 patents Advanced synthetic rope/cable manufacturing, termination, inspection, and deck automation solutions. | — |
| 38 | Vartana Provider of SaaS-based POS software solutions for businesses | $39M | 36 mo ago | — | 2020 | Ahmed Sharif Co-Founder | — | — |
| 39 | Vesta Developer of a data-centric, rules-driven, and extensible mortgage infrastructure platform 42Funding top 30%Growth top 35%Moat top 47%Tech top 50% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 30% Growthtop 35% Moattop 47% Techtop 50% Patentsbottom 49% Talentbottom 49% Innovationbottom 43% Marketbottom 37% Globalbottom 36% Funding: Raised $35.0M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 6 yrs (0.3/yr) Growth: Fresh capital in last 24 mo rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 42/100 | $35M | 9 mo ago | 44 | 2020 | Mike Yu cofounder | 26 patents Emergency communications routing and network management for public safety services | — |
| 40 | Clerkie Platform for loan servicing and credit score building through debt management | $35M | 38 mo ago | 26 | 2017 | Gray Hoffman Co-Founder | — | — |
| 41 | Balance Homes Online marketplace offering refinancing residential mortgage loans 40Funding top 28%Growth top 28%Tech top 42%Global bottom 32% All 5 signals ▾Fundingtop 28% Growthtop 28% Techtop 42% Globalbottom 32% Marketbottom 21% Funding: Raised $30.0M across 1 rounds · 1 rounds over 1 yrs (1.0/yr) Growth: Web rank 50,000,000 → 10,000,000 YoY · Fresh capital in last 24 mo rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 40/100 | $30M | 4 mo ago | 21 21 → 13 (-38%) · sector median +33% | 2021 | — | — | — |
| 42 | Centrifuge Provider of the decentralized platform to connect the financial supply chain 55Talent top 15%Funding top 32%Tech top 34%Growth top 35% All 7 signals ▾Talenttop 15% Fundingtop 32% Techtop 34% Growthtop 35% Moattop 39% Globalbottom 47% Marketbottom 25% Talent: Analyst team rating 5/5 Funding: Raised $27.1M across 4 rounds · 4 rounds over 8 yrs (0.5/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 55/100 | $27M | 1 mo ago | 10 | 2017 | — | — | 2 launchs · 2 partnerships |
| 43 | Vontive Online marketplace for mortgage loans | $25M | 12 mo ago | 55 | 2017 | Shreyas Vijaykumar Co-Founder | — | — |
| 44 | Untapped Global Online alternative investment platform for startups | $13M | 33 mo ago | 27 | 2020 | Jim Chu Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 45 | Spinwheel Debt repayment & management soltuions for students | $11M | 9 mo ago | 21 | 2017 | Tushar Vaish Co-Founder & CTO | — | 1 job opening |
| 46 | Karus AI-based credit assessment software | $8M | 6 mo ago | 8 | 2020 | Aaron Travis CEO Co-Founder Karus Inc. | — | — |
| 47 | Eli Online incentive platform for buying electric vehicles | $7M | 28 mo ago | — | 2023 | Jeff Coleman Co-Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 48 | Kaaj.ai AI-powered platform streamlines small business lending | $4M | 7 mo ago | — | 2024 | Shivi Sharma Co-Founder & President | — | 1 job opening · 1 launch |
| 49 | Sytrex AI-powered platform provides solutions to lenders | $1M | 15 mo ago | — | 2024 | Carlos Chavez Co-Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 50 | SmartBiz Loans Alternative lending platform that provides SBA loans for businesses. | $490K | 15 mo ago | 344 | 2013 | — | — | — |
Top 12 Alternative Lending companies in San Francisco
#1
Series C · San Francisco, California · founded 2020 · 83 employees$94Mraised▾
Provider of cloud-based platform for revenue-based financing. It features a platform for connecting buyers and sellers for growth capital financing. Provides tools for retaining sellers, tracking revenue streams, APIs for underwriting, financial and regulatory risks, and payment processing for users.
- May 2026Conventional Debt—
- Dec 2024Series C$100M
- Aug 2024Conventional Debt$93M
- Apr 2024Conventional Debt$125M
#2
Upgrade 🦄Series G · San Francisco, California · founded 2016 · 602 employees$600Mraised▾
Provider of consumer credit and banking products. It provides users with a financial technology company offering diverse credit and banking products. The company provides personal loans, credit cards, and rewards checking and savings accounts designed to assist individuals in managing their finances. Their offerings aim to provide accessible credit solutions, competitive rates, and rewards for everyday spending. They also include tools for credit monitoring and education to help individuals understand and improve their credit health.
- Oct 2025Series G$165M
- Nov 2021Series F$280M
- Aug 2021Series E$105M
- Jun 2020Series D$40M
#3
Series C · San Francisco, California · founded 2011 · 102 employees$85Mraised▾
Online platform for invoice financing. It purchases the invoice of the business in order to lend the funds. It manages payments between companies and vendors. It also offers solutions for employee management and expense visibility for decision-making. It offers solutions to operate subsidiaries and invoices locally in each market where the payments are being made.
- Mar 2026Series C$7M
- Jul 2025Series C$33M
- Dec 2023Series B$45M
- Nov 2022Series A$12M
#4
Series C · San Francisco, California · founded 2015 · 101 employees$203.6Mraised▾
PayJoy provides an online platform for purchase financing. It facilitates finance for consumer electronics, changing an up-front purchase into a monthly installment plan. This applies to everything from televisions and smartphones to microwaves and air conditioners. Customers register for PayJoy at a local merchant with their Facebook account, phone number, and government-issued I.D.
- Dec 2025Conventional Debt$140M
- Sep 2023Conventional Debt$210M
- Jul 2023Series C$150M
- May 2023Series B$14.8M
#5
Series A · San Francisco, California · founded 2017 · 10 employees$27.1Mraised▾
Provider of the decentralized platform to connect the financial supply chain. It allows businesses to transact on a network while maintaining ownership of their data, including validated company details, business relationships, and transactions. It also enables businesses to exchange financial documents such as invoices, purchase orders, and company data.
- May 2026Series A—
- Apr 2024Series A$15M
- Nov 2023Series A—
- Nov 2022Series A$4M
#6
Series D · San Francisco, California · founded 2016 · 51 employees$121.2Mraised▾
Provider of unified consumer credit data infrastructure and analytics platform. The company enables lenders and other financial institutions to access and orchestrate consumer-permissioned credit, banking, payroll, and document data through a single integration for underwriting and onboarding workflows. Its platform underpins three core products a cash flow underwriting solution using bank transaction data, an automated income verification solution, and a cross border credit product that translates international credit histories into standardized reports. Services help clients expand approval rates for underserved or thin file consumers, reduce fraud, improve debt-to-income assessment, and maintain compliance as a consumer reporting agency under applicable regulations.
- Oct 2025Series D$35M
- Oct 2023Series C$45M
- Sep 2022Series B$10M
- Feb 2020Series B$50M
#7
Figure 🦄Public · San Francisco, California · founded 2018 · 463 employees$435.2Mraised▾
Blockchain-based platform for consumer loans. It provides a blockchain-based platform for consumer loans. It offers loans such as personal loans, residential mortgage loans, home equity loans, mortgage refinancing loans, and more. It provides a blockchain-based platform for capital raising and fundraising. It also provides trading tools for startups and businesses in order to track and manage equities.
- May 2025Conventional Debt—
- Nov 2022Series D$7.5M
- May 2021Series D$200M
- Jan 2021Conventional Debt$100M
#8
Series B · San Francisco, California · founded 2018 · 119 employees$91.2Mraised▾
Wisetack provides purchase financing solutions to consumers. Users can finance their purchases via Wisetack and can make repayments in monthly installments. Users can set up automatic debits to make repayments.
- Sep 2025Series B$14.3M
- Mar 2024Series B$20.4M
- Jul 2021Series B$51.8M
- Aug 2019Series A$15M
#9
Acquired · San Francisco, California · founded 2021 · 21 employees$30Mraised▾
Online marketplace offering refinancing residential mortgage loans. It offers loans in exchange for home equity or co-ownership in the property, and also lets the borrower skip up to 3 monthly loan repayment in a year.
- Jan 2026Series B$30M
#10
Series A · San Francisco, California · founded 2020 · 44 employees$35Mraised▾
Developer of a data-centric, rules-driven, and extensible mortgage infrastructure platform. The platform offers task-based approach with automated routing and prioritization. It analyzes loan data in real-time and flags potential issues. The platform enables parallel workflow across multiple users, driving faster closing times. It provides comprehensive and automated task management. The architecture and API platform allows lenders to leverage innovations.
- Sep 2025Series A—
- Jan 2022Series A$30M
- 2020Seed$5M
#11
Public · San Francisco, California · founded 2011 · 3066 employees$3Braised▾
Online bank offering consumer loans and insurances. It offers multiple loan products including personal loans, student loans, home loans, business loans, and more. It also offers insurance including life insurance, home insurance, and more. It also features an app-based platform for trading stocks, ETFs, crypto, and accessing financial services. The app is available on IOS and Android devices.
- Feb 2024Post IPO—
- Jan 2021Series G$369.8M
- Jun 2019Series G$539M
- Apr 2017Series F$105M
#12
Series A · San Francisco, California · founded 2020 · 8 employees$8Mraised▾
AI-based credit assessment software. It offers credit scores and insights to banks and financial institutions by integrating API with the dataflow model and obtaining & assessing client data. It helps investors & lenders make an informed decision by providing prediction & insights data through the integrated API.
- Dec 2025Series A$8M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Alternative Lending coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising