Who Will Be Who in the FinTech World?

Mobile banking and payments appear to be the main focus of the numerous (mainly small) FinTech companies that have raised funds – from a surprisingly diverse variety of backers – over the last three years. 

Welcome to the Financial IT 2016/2017 Pathfinder Ranking

What is happening in the world of FinTech is one thing. What will happen is another. To gain a clearer insight into how the FinTech universe will appear in three years time, we are developing the Financial IT 2016/2017 Pathfinder Ranking, a definitive listing of the 50 most promising new startup companies. Nominations have come from Financial IT’s community of readers, FinTech providers and subscribers. Given the pace of change, we have only accepted nominations for startup companies that came into existence in 2013 or later. Our Expert Panel, consisting of industry veterans, venture capitalists (VCs) and Financial IT’s senior editors and research analysts, will draw up the Financial IT 2016/2017 Pathfinder Ranking on the basis of the information gathered. 

We consider the following criteria:
• Uniqueness of the FinTech solution to a particular challenge
• Differentiating factors/Innovation points
• Stage of Development (early stage, bootstrapped, funded (Seed, A, B, C Rounds), IPO/Exit stage) - Coverage (geographic diversity and size of the market that is being addressed)
• Team, Background, etc. We will draw up a preliminary shortlist, and then engage with the companies on it before we produce the final Financial IT Pathfinder Ranking.

For now, though, we have ranked the 70 companies nominated on the basis of the average score for four main criteria and the quantity of funds raised. We have recognized 50 most promising fintech startups from the list and named them TOP 50. Those companies that didn’t receive the high scores and remained below the line were nominated as Rising Stars.

Over time, we hope that the Financial IT 2016/2017 Pathfinder Ranking will be revised and extended, so that it is seen as a crucial work of reference for the industry. Even at this early stage in the process, a number of clear insights are evident.

Key Takeaways:
• Most of the nominated Pathfinders are relatively small companies, with only 10 of the 70 having raised more than US$10mn. Most have no more than a few dozen employees and associates.
• Funding sources are varied.
• Although the Pathfinders come from a variety of countries, a disproportionately large number are based in the United States or the UK.
• It is not helpful to be categoric about the main area of interest of each of the Pathfinders. This is because there is often an overlap between the major elements of FinTech as Financial IT would see them. Blockchain often plays a key role in security/KYC solutions: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often a key element of mobile banking solutions, and so on.
• Nevertheless, about one-fifth of the Pathfinders have indicated that mobile banking and payments are their most important areas of focus.
• About one-seventh of the Pathfinders have indicated that AI is their most important area.
• Similar numbers are focusing primarily on each of block chain, data management/ core banking and investment/wealth management technology.
• Smaller numbers of the Pathfinders are focusing mainly on (micro)-lending, KYC/ security, and other areas.

Read The Final Report Here 

Top 50 Most Promising Startups

1      TOP50    Atom Bank
2      TOP50    Nubank
3      TOP50    Lemonade
4      TOP50    Monzo
5      TOP50    Beam Wallet
6      TOP50    SETL
7      TOP50    NYMBUS, Inc
8      TOP50    Token
9      TOP50    Yoyo Wallet
10    TOP50    Grow Financial Inc.
11    TOP50    Point
12    TOP50    ComplyAdvantage
13    TOP50    Data Republic
14    TOP50    Smartkarma
15    TOP50    Elliptic
16    TOP50    Mesitis Pte Ltd
17    TOP50    Trunomi
18    TOP50    Prive Services Limited
19    TOP50    Beehive
20    TOP50    Ovamba Solutions ("Ovamba")
21    TOP50    Qumram
22    TOP50    Coinify ApS
23    TOP50    B-Secur
24    TOP50    PensionBee
25    TOP50    Quantstore
26    TOP50    Pushfor
27    TOP50    ThisIsMe
28    TOP50    Earny
29    TOP50    Twisto
30    TOP50    Qonto (Olinda SAS)
31    TOP50    Valoot
32    TOP50    Veridu
33    TOP50    Splittable
34    TOP50    Equitise
35    TOP50    Thinknum
36    TOP50    Plutus.it
37    TOP50    Cendit
38    TOP50    Finimize
39    TOP50    Spotcap Global Services
40    TOP50    Bambu
41    TOP50    KyoLAB Limited
42    TOP50    Enterprise bot
43    TOP50    BlockEx
44    TOP50    bunq
45    TOP50    Ways2Wealth
46    TOP50    Configo
47    TOP50    SecurionPay
48    TOP50    BankEx
49    TOP50    Smartly Pte Ltd
50    TOP50    Everledger

Rising Stars 

     Rising Star    Market EarlyBird
     Rising Star    Abra
     Rising Star    Cashaa
     Rising Star    mergims.com
     Rising Star    Notakey
     Rising Star    Trriple
     Rising Star    Veridate Financial
     Rising Star    Bridg
     Rising Star    Credntia
     Rising Star    SDK.finance
     Rising Star    Cobalt DL
     Rising Star    PAYMAGNET.com
     Rising Star    Metamako
     Rising Star    Yoti
     Rising Star    Bluzelle
     Rising Star    Wala
     Rising Star    BlockApps, Inc
     Rising Star    baningo GmbH
     Rising Star    Card Switch
     Rising Star    MONI Ltd.

If you wish to nominate the company in our Pathfinder Ranking please send us your email request to surveys@financialit.net or call us at +44 (0) 208 819 32 53