The global crisis of 2008 was a catalyst for change in finance. People stopped trusting the old format banks. Startups and new business models capable of meeting the needs and increased demands of customers began to appear at their request. Big corporations have turned their attention to fintech and have started investing in this area.
Fintech is the provision of financial services and services using innovative technologies. We are talking about Big Data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotization, blockchain, cloud technologies, biometrics, and others.
Simply put, it is software, applications, business models, and any other innovations that make relationships with money easier, faster, and more reliable.
Fintech is also an industry where companies use new solutions and technologies to compete with traditional financial organizations for customers.
Fintech includes a huge number of areas – payment services, investments, insurance, various types of loans, and neobanks. Nevertheless, companies that work in several directions at once and help customers maximize the closure of financial tasks in a convenient interface are taking the lead.
In this article, we will talk not about the interface, but about visual identity. After all, competition in the market of fitness services in recent years is growing at an incredible rate, and, therefore, companies use all the tools to attract new customers and the logo is one of these tools. Let’s see who managed to create a cool and memorable logo the best of all.
After all, Fintech companies are a special category in branding, they are at the forefront of the economy, and they create real, effective, and visible tools that millions of people use every day.
SoFi
SoFi Technologies is a neo-banking, fintech company operating exclusively online. Despite the absence of physical offices, the company provides all standard banking services. SoFi’s fintech platform is a service for quality financial management through budget planning, investments, student loans, savings, refinancing, and money protection.
The SoFi visual identity is pretty simple, yet lively and fresh due to the use of a bright blue and white color palette. The white SoFi lettering (short for Social Finance) is written against a solid blue horizontally oriented rectangle, on the left from a geometric emblem, formed by nine circles. Six of the circles are solid white, while three of them, making up a diagonal line — are outlined.
Chime
Chime is the largest digital bank in the United States. The company partners with regional banks to provide mobile banking services with no monthly fees, including access to paychecks before the official pay date, high-yield savings accounts, and tools to improve financial well-being. Chime actively implements innovative technologies to improve the user experience.
The Chinese logo is as progressive as the company itself. The minimalistic design is compensated by the choice of a bright and juicy color and an interesting designer element inscribed into simple shapes. The logo is composed of bold lowercase lettering in a grass-green color, with the central part of the letter “M” drawn in a loop. This small touch represents connection and support and brilliantly shows the company’s sphere of activity.
Brex
Brex is a fintech company that offers credit card and money management solutions for businesses. It allows corporations to combine credit cards, bank accounts, payments, and accounting to manage spending. Brex was launched in 2016, and today is already among the top of the coolest and most promising fintech companies in the US.
The visual identity of Brex looks strict and stylish at the same time. The black lettering and minimalistic emblem are set on a plain white background and evoke a sense of professionalism and excellence. The wordmark is written in the title case of a geometric sans-serif typeface, looking stable and confident, while the emblem adds a little playfulness — it is a stylized waving flag in a bold black outline.
Flutterwave
Flutterwave is a fintech startup from Nigeria founded in 2016. In 2021, it managed to cross the $1 billion mark. According to African Business, the company expects to become a leading provider of payment software for foreign companies. The platform helps businesses create customized payment applications using its APIs. More than 290 thousand companies use the Flutterwave platform to make payments.
The Flatterwave logo is somewhat super cool and bright. The primary badge features just one graphical element, with no lettering accompanying it. It is an image depicting two rings intertwined in the shape of a “V”. Each of the rings is multicolored: one is pink and green, and the second is light and bright orange. The emblem represents the unity, connection, and multiculturalism of the countries the company operates.
Upstart
Upstart is a platform that banks use to check the creditworthiness of consumers. It is a very fast-growing fintech company that provides software based on artificial intelligence that enables banks to achieve higher customer approval rates. The company uses machine learning models to accurately determine risk compared to traditional credit score-based models.
The visual identity of this American fintech company is also designed in a minimalistic style. The badge is composed of a modest yet progressive emblem, and a super simple title case logotype in a traditional sans-serif typeface with the medium-weight bars. The Upstart emblem is a stylized arrowhead pointing up. The element is executed in two shades of dark green, which makes it look voluminous. Another thing about the arrowhead is its rounded peak, which makes it look like an upside-down heart, so let’s call it an “arrowheart”.
HighRadius
HighRadius is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company and the global leader in standalone financial platforms for the CFO’s office. More than 800 of the world’s leading companies have transformed their order-to-pay, treasury, and registration-reporting processes with HighRadius. Customers include 3M, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Sanofi, Engie GBS Solutions, Kellogg Company, Danone, Hershey’s, and many others.
The HighRadius logo is actually nothing outstanding. The gray lowercase lettering in a traditional sans-serif typeface with the bright orange dot above the “I” stabilizes the multicolor emblem, where the orange, blue, and green elements make up a circular shape on a transparent background. The emblem is full of air and vitality, and perfectly shows such qualities of the company as energy, reliability, and progressiveness.
Ellevest
Ellevest is an investment platform designed specifically for women who fall into the category of being excluded from savings and wealth management services. The platform as a whole, has a very global goal of closing the gender gap in investments by providing women with personalized and targeted financial advice.
Even though Ellevest is a platform created for a female audience, there is nothing pink, or even colored. The company’s logo is executed in an elegant and restrained black and white or dark gray scale. The uppercase wordmark in the lightweight and distinctive sans-serif typeface is written under a strict emblem with the bold merged “EV” characters in a classy sans-serif inscribed into a circular frame.
Marqeta
Marqeta is a modern payment card platform that provides other companies with the infrastructure and services to create and manage payment programs. The company’s shareholders include investment bank Goldman Sachs and Visa. The company was founded in 2010. Marqeta now operates in 36 countries. Marqeta’s clients include Klarna, Affirm, DoorDash, Instacart, and Square.
The visual identity of the Marqeta company is executed in a purple and white color palette, which looks chic and exquisite. The background of the badge has a slightly visible diagonally-striped pattern in purple gradients, which supports the geometry of the platform’s emblem. The emblem is a contoured double-arrow figure, which also looks like a stylized capital “M”. As for the lettering, it is set in a futuristic sans-serif typeface with a long space between the characters.
Kiva
Kiva is something completely unfamiliar to modern internet users. It is a non-profit online platform where anyone can lend from $25 to people who need some money and help to realize their idea. Kiva’s mission is to fight poverty through lending. Since Kiva was founded in 2005, more than one million people have participated in the project and issued loans worth more than $600 million to borrowers in 79 countries. The repayment rate is very high – over 98%.
The logo of the Kiva platform is also executed in a very minimalistic manner, but it wins due to the use of an intense shade of green, which is the color of prosperity, wealth, and development. And this is exactly what the project aims to do: help people get wealthier and grow financially. The main element of the logo is the stylized letter “K”, which has its vertical bar drawn as an elongated rectangle, and the diagonal ones replaced by two laconic leaves.
Circle Internet Financial
Circle is a fintech firm that provides peer-to-peer payment technology. Through its platform, Circle allows consumers and businesses to make payments to each other using their mobile devices. In 2018, Circle launched USDC (stablecoin), which is backed by $1 or an asset of equal value. It’s an easy way to transfer money to and between crypto applications, exchanges, and protocols.
The visual identity of Circle Internet Financial brilliantly represents the innovative approach of the company. It is a graphical emblem with no lettering, executed in a light gradient color palette with turquoise, green, and purple shades. The emblem is composed of two mirrored C-shaped elements, which are placed at a slight distance from each other and make up a circle.
Conclusion
Fintech evokes an association with something complex. However, it has become part of our everyday life. Remote loan processing, transferring money via a fast payment system, and investing in the stock market online – all these are successful examples of financial technologies.
Fintech is the future because it simplifies everyone’s life. Virtually any routine action for which you used to have to stand in queues or wait on a telephone line can now be done at the touch of a button.
And of course, this market will only continue to grow. Today we looked at the most interesting US company dates and paid attention to what they wanted to convey in their logos. And who managed to convey the message better than others – only you can judge.
