5 Payment Fintechs From Chicago That Are Booming

The 2020 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards are on the horizon, and some of the world's most innovative, fastest-growing fintech companies are competing to win awards. 

The payments industry is one of the most competitive and interesting industries in fintech, and Chicago has been a geographic leader in the development of payment technology.

These five payment companies from the Windy City could be poised to win at this year's Benzinga Global Fintech Awards. 

Braintree: Braintree is one of the fastest-growing and innovative payment startups that said it leverages innovative payments technology and solutions to create products that are trusted by many. 

Companies around the world use Braintree's software to accept payments in more than 135 currencies. Companies like AirBnB and Dropbox use these services, and exponential growth throughout the past decade has the company at the top of the payments industry.

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Raise: Raise's focus provides people access to gift cards and unused store credit.  When someone uses a prepaid card at at store, the store itself benefits due to reduced transaction fees and increased consumer loyalty — so Raise assists both the buyer and seller through the dissemenation of thousands of gift cards. 

Raise said its users can access prepaid cards for over 4,000 brands and earn up to 30% in discounts.

Airfordable: Finding the cheapest flight rates is no easy task, and Airfordable is one of the fastest-growing fintech companies trying to solve these problems.  Airfordable's key product allow users to book flights by paying an fee upfront and then a series of smaller installments prior to departure. 

Its three-step process — find a flight, pay an upfront fee and then later installments and receive an e-ticket to fly — has helped it grow to be one of the Windy City's top fintech companies, according to Airfordable. 

Keyo: Keyo allows you to keep all your essentials at the palm of your hand.  Its payments technology requires no card, no wallet, and no phone — just the person.

The Keyo terminal, which can be rolled out at the payment center of brick-and-mortar stores, identifies customers in 0.2 seconds for payment.  A

The single platform allows people to brings together control, payment and time and attendance systems in a single platform, according to Keyo. 

PushCoin: PushCoin is one the fastest-growing payment platforms for K-12 students and their parents. Parents can use the platform to pay for school lunches, shop online and fund registration fees, according to PushCoin. 

Parents can also track spending, transfer money between siblings and add money to accounts. PushCoin works with the National School Lunch Program.