The global payments company was selected from more than 70,000 fintechs worldwide and recognised in the cross-border payments category.
Global payments company Hello Clever has been named one of the world’s most promising fintech startups in CB Insights’ 2026 Fintech 100.
Hello Clever is one of only two Australian fintechs named in the global list, the other being sharetrading platform Superhero.
Now in its ninth year, the annual ranking selects 100 private fintech companies from more than 70,000 worldwide, ranging from pre-seed to Series C. Hello Clever is listed in the Payments section, in the cross-border payments category.
“Being named in the Fintech 100 is recognition of our team and what we’re building,” said Caroline Tran, Co-Founder and CEO of Hello Clever.
“Moving money across borders is still slow, costly and complicated for most businesses. We’re building the infrastructure to fix that, connecting businesses to the right payment rail for every transaction.”
CB Insights analysts chose the winners based on deal activity, industry partnerships, investor strength, hiring momentum and revenue. They also used CB Insights’ own scores for each company’s likelihood of success and commercial traction.
Together, the 2026 winners have raised US$10.9 billion in equity funding and disclosed more than 330 partnerships since 2025. CB Insights ranks them among the top 10% of private companies globally for overall health and growth potential.
This year’s list shows a shift in where fintech growth is happening. According to CB Insights, many of the most promising startups are solving problems that sit beneath the products customers see, such as moving money across borders. Many winners do this work for banks, lenders and other financial companies, often as partners rather than competitors.
Only one of the list’s six sections focuses on products for individuals. The rest mostly serve businesses and financial institutions.
Tran said the list reflects where the industry is heading.
“The biggest opportunities in fintech now sit in the infrastructure underneath payments. That means working alongside banks, payment networks and providers, not against them. That’s how we’ve built Hello Clever from day one.”
Hello Clever connects businesses to multiple payment rails and providers through one platform. It matches every transaction to the route best suited to carry it, based on cost, speed and how the customer wants to pay.
This means businesses can accept and move money across markets without rebuilding their payment setup for each new country or payment method.
International growth
The recognition follows a period of rapid international growth for Hello Clever.
On October 14, the company opened its New York office as its global headquarters. Sydney remains its founding home and a major Asia-Pacific hub, alongside teams in Singapore and Tokyo.
This month, Hello Clever also partnered with Infinia to expand into eight Latin American markets: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Merchants can now sell into all eight countries through a single integration with Hello Clever, and customers can pay using the local methods they already know.
Earlier this year, Hello Clever appointed former Bolt President and CEO Justin Grooms as President to drive global growth. It also launched Clever Connect, its real-time payments platform for SaaS platforms, marketplaces and cross-border businesses.
“We started in Sydney in 2021 with a simple idea: money should move as fast as business does,” Tran said.
“Every market and payment rail we connect makes it easier for our merchants to sell globally. This recognition tells us we’re on the right track, and we’re only getting started.”
See the full list here: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/top-fintech-startups-2026/
About Hello Clever
Hello Clever is an AI-native global payments platform building an exchange for money movement. Founded in Australia in 2021 by Caroline Tran and Gavin Nguyen, Hello Clever connects merchants and platforms with payment networks, banks and providers through a single intelligent infrastructure layer.
Its platform brings together real-time payment rails, global payment methods, payment orchestration, loyalty and AI-powered intelligence, helping businesses optimise how money moves based on cost, speed, performance and customer preference. Hello Clever supports 27+ currencies across global payment networks and has teams in Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo and New York.
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