It’s a head-to-head battle of fintech startups with popular personal finance apps. In one corner you’ve got the challenger, an up-and-coming banking disruptor named Dave Inc. (NASDAQ:DAVE). In the other corner is the champion with a U.S. banking charter, SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI | SOFI Price Prediction).
SoFi Technologies is the better-known of these two companies, but don’t assume SoFi is the winner. Dave Inc. may eventually pursue a banking charter, and both of these neo-banking firms are making financial strides this year.
The recent share-price rally of SoFi Technologies stock has been amazing. However, on a year-to-date basis, both DAVE stock and SOFI stock have outpaced the stocks of traditional banking businesses like Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA). So now, it’s just a question of which one is the better fintech stock pick for 2025.
SoFi Surges, Dave Delivers
Fintech companies like Dave Inc. and SoFi Technologies are highly sensitive to developments impacting interest rates. This helps to explain why DAVE stock and SOFI stock tanked in March and April, when tariff concerns caused investors to worry about higher-for-longer interest rates.
But then, starting in April, investors looked ahead and figured that the Federal Reserve would eventually pivot to interest-rate cuts. Consequently, DAVE stock and SOFI stock staged relief rallies over the past five to six months.
As of September 14, SoFi Technologies stock was up 72.4% year-to-date. Surely this stock must be the winner, right?
Actually, no. During the same time frame, Dave Inc. stock rallied 163.94. One might call DAVE stock a “winner” in that respect, though some investors may look at the charts and decide that Dave Inc. stock is overextended to the upside.
Furthermore, while SoFi Technologies’ trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 53.1x, Dave Inc.’s P/E ratio is even higher at 60.53x. The point here is that, while SoFi Technologies stock is certainly running hot in 2025, Dave Inc. really needs to justify its current valuation after a massive share-price melt-up.
Cash Is King
To help us determine a winner, we’ll now look at the recent financial figures of these two fintech standouts. In terms of top-line and bottom-line results, both SoFi Technologies and Dave Inc. produced impressive figures for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.
SoFi Technologies reported net revenue totaling $854.944 million, up 42.8% when compared to the $598.618 million that SoFi generated in the year-earlier quarter. Meanwhile, Dave Inc.’s $131.757 million in total operating revenue was 64.5% higher than the $80.117 million that the company generated in the equivalent quarter of 2024.
Also during the quarter ended June 30, 2025, SoFi Technologies earned net income totaling $97.263 million, which was 458.9% greater than the $17.404 million earned in the year-earlier quarter. Looking at the same time span, Dave Inc.’s net income rose 42.2% from $6.358 million to $9.04 million.
It’s difficult to pick a winner here since both of these companies knocked it out of the park. Perhaps we should think of the long term and focus on the capital runways of Dave Inc. and SoFi Technologies.
A quick-and-dirty way to measure a business’s capital runway is by taking note of its position of cash and cash equivalents. Dave Inc. had cash and cash equivalents totaling $61.687 million as of June 30, 2025. Hence, there’s no doubt that the company will be able to fund its operations for the foreseeable future.
Yet, as of that same date, SoFi Technologies had $2.123 billion in cash and cash equivalents. This suggests that SoFi Technologies is extremely well capitalized and can significantly expand its operations, marketing, product offerings, and so on.
Is SOFI Stock Better Than DAVE Stock?
Here’s a quick bullet-points recap of which company or stock is the current winner in certain respects:
- Having a banking charter: SoFi Technologies
- Share-price momentum in 2025 so far: DAVE stock (though some people might say it’s overextended)
- Lower P/E ratio: SoFi Technologies
- Revenue growth (percentage-wise) for the most recently reported quarter: Dave Inc.
- Net income/earnings growth for the most recently reported quarter: SoFi Technologies
- Position of cash and cash equivalents: SoFi Technologies
Although this is debatable, I’m going to stick my neck out and declare SOFI stock the winner. When I look at DAVE stock’s wild rally, I wonder whether it’s justified in light of Dave Inc.’s financials.
In contrast, SoFi Technologies is the more established fintech firm with a bigger capital runway and outstanding income growth. So, while I like both stocks and am not averse to owning a few shares of DAVE stock, I would feel more secure holding a bigger position in SOFI stock today.
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