This week KPMG and H2 Ventures released their third annual Fintech 100 list. This list is actually two lists of 50. The first list called the Leading 50 highlights those established fintech companies that are true leaders in their field. The second list is called Emerging Stars and as the name implies features those newer companies that have a great deal of promise.
The researchers ranked the companies on the Fintech100 by considering the following five factors:
- Total capital raised
- Rate of capital raising
- Geographic diversity
- Sectorial diversity
- X-factor: degree of product, service and business model innovation (a subjective measure that is applied only with respect to companies appearing on the 50 Emerging Stars list)
The list covers many areas of fintech with lending leading the way. Here is a breakdown of the categories for every company:
32 lending companies,
18 payments companies,
12 insurance companies,
8 regtech companies,
8 data and analytics companies,
6 wealth companies,
5 digital currencies companies,
5 blockchain companies,
3 capital markets companies,
2 crowd funding companies, and
1 accounting company.
Lending companies on the list that would be familiar to Lend Academy readers include SoFi, Avant, Lending Club, Prosper, Funding Circle, OnDeck, Kabbage, LendUp and SocietyOne just to name a few.
China Leads the Way in Fintech
While there are 23 countries represented on this list what was most interesting to me is that companies from China dominated the top spots. With Ant Financial leading the way China had four of the top five spots on the list. This reflects the reality that I have experienced – that China leads the way in fintech globally.
We visited Ant Financial during the LendIt China tour this year and I was blown away by how sophisticated they are when it comes to technology. Their Alipay payments app is so ubiquitous that pretty much no one carries cash any more in Chinese cities because every business accepts Alipay, even street vendors selling cheap food.
Beyond Ant Financial I have also been very impressed with Lufax who are said to be preparing for a blockbuster IPO in 2017 and ZhongAn who are breaking new ground in the insurance industry in China. I think the west should be paying close attention to these companies because I believe they are going to dominate financial services globally in the near future.
The Launch Party in San Francisco
Ron Suber delivering the keynote speech at the Fintech100 party
KPMG hosted a party last night at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in downtown San Francisco. They were kind enough to invite me and given that I had already planned to be in San Francisco this week it worked out very well. It was an excellent evening with over 100 people in attendance with many people present to receive their company’s award.
We heard from the KPMG and H2 Ventures people who put the report together and the evening keynote was from Ron Suber, the president of Prosper. He talked about the state of the industry and the four different phases of fintech. He also talked about the lessons he has learned from both the highs and lows that he has experienced while running Prosper.
Lists like the Fintech100 are always going to be up for debate and I can think of several companies that I think should have made the list but did not. And others that I didn’t think deserved to be there. Regardless, I think the 112-page report makes for some interesting reading. You can download it here.
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