Top 5 NASDAQ Fintech Stocks

Year-to-date gain: 242.8 percent; market cap: US$2.69 billion; current share price: US$4.01

The top-performing NASDAQ-listed fintech stock this past year was Opendoor Technologies. First launched in 2014, Opendoor is a leading e-commerce platform for residential real estate transactions.

Rising interest rates have not been kind to the real estate market, and this was reflected in the company's quarterly financial reports for much of the year. However, there are signs that the US Federal Reserve will soon cut rates, which could bring fresh life to the real estate sector. This optimism has helped buoy Opendoor's share price.

After starting out the year at under US$1, shares of the company rose to a year-to-date high of US$5.41 on August 1. They fell back to the US$2 level in the fall, but Opendoor shares are trending upward as the year comes to a close.

Year-to-date gain: 223.64 percent; market cap: US$3.71 billion; current share price: US$43.63

Upstart uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to reduce lending risk and costs for its bank partners, while providing applicants with access to affordable credit. It provides personal loans, car loans and debt consolidation.

Upstart's new partners for 2023 are numerous, and include the Bank of Denver, as well as several federal credit unions, such as CorePlus, Texas Bay, Arbor Financial and Farmers Insurance. The company has also partnered with auto dealers Acura and Mercedes-Benz Group (OTC Pink:MBGAF,ETR:MBG).

Shares of Upstart rose from a year-to-date low of US$11.93 on May 3 to a high of US$72.58 on August 1.

In its Q2 report, released in early August, Upstart co-founder and CEO Dave Girouard said, "As a result of our efforts over the past year to improve efficiency and operating leverage in our business, we achieved record-high contribution margin and positive cash flow in Q2." Highlights from the company's Q3 report, released in early November, include positive EBITDA for the second straight quarter with contribution margins near record highs.

Year-to-date gain: 139.86 percent; market cap: US$2.134 billion; current share price: US$5.31

Next on this list of the top NASDAQ fintech stocks is Brazilian digital bank Inter & Co., which through its Super App provides financial and digital commerce services to more than 29 million customers. The app offers banking, investment, credit, insurance and cross-border services, and provides access to a marketplace of retailers in Brazil and the US.

The company released its Q1 report in early May, showing total gross revenues were up 6 percent quarter-on-quarter and were 41 percent higher year-on-year. In its Q2 report, released in mid-August, Inter put up another 33 percent year-on-year increase for total gross revenues, and achieved a number of major profitability milestones.

Published in November, Inter's Q3 report continued this positive momentum for the company. "Quarter after quarter, we are showing that we have created a virtuous cycle: the more value we offer to clients, the more they reward us with their business across our diversified banking platform," commented CEO João Vitor Menin. "As our scale and profitability grows, we are empowered to continue innovating, and the cycle starts anew."

Shares of Inter rose from a low of US$1.37 on March 23 to a year-to-date high of US$5.95 on November 21.

Year-to-date gain: 139.5 percent; market cap: US$152.716 million; current share price: US$10.46

Founded in South Africa in 2016, cloud-native end-to-end insurance platform Root gives organizations the ability to build, sell and manage digital insurance products through easy-to-use APIs. The company has plans to expand into the UK and Europe.

“Root Insurance is like cloud services for the insurance industry,” Root CEO Louw Hopley has explained. “It gives software developers all the building blocks they need to create and launch a fully compliant insurance product in a matter of days. The platform not only reduces costs and time to market drastically, it also takes care of administering the insurance policies – everything from issuing policies to collecting premiums and handling claims.”

Root's share price hit its highest point for the year on June 22, reaching US$14.80.

Year-to-date gain: 130.44 percent; market cap: US$285.604 billion; current share price: US$5.26

Last on this list of the year's top-gaining NASDAQ fintech stocks is Jiayin Group, a leading fintech company in China that uses big data analytics to assess the risk profiles of borrowers.

In its Q1 report, the company posted a 119.5 percent increase to its net revenues compared to the same period the previous year. In the second quarter, its net revenues saw a 57.4 percent increase over the same quarter in 2022, while the third quarter brought a 64 percent year-on-year increase in Jiayin's net revenues.

"These results once again prove that our development path is healthy and sustainable, and our strategy is precise and practical," noted Yan Dinggui, the company’s founder, director and CEO. "We are confident and capable of continuously creating value for our investors and growing into a significant player in the global fin-tech industry.”

Shares of Jiayin hit a year-to-date high of US$8.19 on June 5.