Sofiia V.
2021-07-29 / Modified on 2022-07-29
Financial technology companies are set to explode this year. Here are the 5 most interesting fintech startups we’re watching the closest.
Most of us will remember 2020 as the year that Covid-19 disrupted our lives. The FinTech industry will probably remember 2020 as the year that inspired countless innovations. Although the industry’s global growth slowed slightly due to the pandemic, it was already seeing a resurgence in 2021.
This rebound should come as a surprise to no one. Mobile financial solutions are more important and necessary than ever. Even if many consumers don’t know the name FinTech, they have come to expect tech-driven payment solutions in the financial sector. And FinTech startups are more than ready to continue to innovate, pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
To better understand the dynamics of this space, let’s explore the 15 top FinTech companies that you need to be paying attention to in 2022 and beyond.
Let’s address the elephant in the room: to a lot of people, the name “FinTech” probably sounds like some made-up, inaccessible corporate jargon intended to make cryptocurrency traders feel more mainstream. In reality, FinTech is just a portmanteau of “financial technology.” It is all about using technology to improve the finance industry.
While many FinTech startups deal with emerging technologies, such as cryptocurrencies or even trading digital collectibles (such as NFTs or “non-fungible tokens”), many more attempt to make the financial sector more accessible and easier to use. For example, digital banking, investment apps, and contactless payments are all FinTech innovations. And as we move into a “new normal” of relying on digital financial services, FinTech startups are poised to explode. In fact, in just the first quarter of 2022, FinTech funding surpassed $13.4 billion.
One key question that faces every startup is, “how do you plan on making money?” FinTech startups are no exception. However, given the fact that they are in the financial sector, there are several tried and true methods to monetize a FinTech startup.
Any FinTech startup that deals with financial transactions has a straightforward revenue stream: their consumer base. The startup can take a small percentage of each transaction as a fee. Although, for this model to work as a standalone option, the startup needs to grow massively.
Similarly, if a FinTech startup can reliably automate financial advice, they can charge a small percentage for each transaction. These so-called “robo-advisors” mean lower overhead costs for the company and significantly lower fees for the consumer (which can make investing significantly more accessible).
Many companies rely on a subscription model. The principle is simple: offer a good service for free and a remarkable service for a monthly or yearly fee. This might mean additional features or access to additional live support.
Partnering with a major brand can be far more lucrative than just relying on revenue for the user base. Plus, it’s a win-win-win. Many brands are willing to pay big bucks to FinTech companies that can drive consumers to make purchases with them. Consumers also win in this model, since they’re getting a free experience from the FinTech startup.
Of course, there are several other ways to make money. For example, companies can sell ad space. They could also sell user data. The possibilities are endless — it is all up to the imaginations of the startups.
Before we get to the lists of most successful FinTech startups, let’s get a couple of disclaimers out of the way. First, we’re using the term “startup” pretty liberally here. There’s a reason for that: this list is intended to sample all stages of startup life — from being a good idea to becoming a unicorn to establishing yourself as a major tech company.
Secondly, we want to cast a wide net with regard to types of startups. So, for example, Bitcoin and NFTs were exploding in 2021… but it would be shortsighted to create a list dominated by blockchain startups. After all, many other attractive things are happening in the FinTech world at the moment. In our view, an interesting financial technology startup could be focused on helping nonprofits take advantage of the digital revolution. Or it could be a promising exchange that evolves into an $85 billion giant.
Thirdly, to better understand the FinTech market in 2022, we broke up startups into several categories: Banking FinTech Startups, Payments FinTech Startups, Insurance Companies, Markets, Currency Exchange Fintech Startups, Lending & Financing Technology Startups and, Investing & Wealth Management.
Country: Germany
Year of Foundation: 2013
Fundraising: $900 M
N26 is a German internet bank operating without physical branches in more than 20 European countries. It provides services such as deposit opening, funds transfer, and overdraft service. Clients carry out all transactions in mobile financial software or on the bank’s official website.
In 2013, Valentin Stalf, who was then working at the Internet incubator Rocket Internet, and his friend Maximilian Teyenthal, an assistant financial director at an insurance company, decided to quit their jobs and start their own business. This is how the FinTech startup Papapayer (later renamed Number26) was born.
Initially, the entrepreneurs wanted to start a project for parents who give their children pocket money and want to be sure they spend it for its intended purpose. They hoped to give parents the financial tools to control the financial transactions of children in the application and on the website, and the electronic wallet was to be used as a regular bank account. However, six months later, entrepreneurs realized that the idea of a mobile bank was more promising for making money, and decided to implement it.
In 2014, the fledgling startup received €2 million in funding from venture capital investor Earlybird Venture Capital, according to the company. In just nine years, N26 has received more than $600 million in financial support from investors from China, Thailand and other countries.
Country: Sweden
Year of Foundation: 2020
Fundraising: $282 M
Juni is a neobank that helps online merchants deal with finances. It offers a range of products, from a lending platform to the ability to track ROI. The startup quickly expanded to the Netherlands and the UK (its largest market).
Juni is the financial companion made for e-commerce. Focus on what really matters with the features of their all-in-one platform, and make better decisions with all the knowledge and insights you need at hand.
Country: USA
Year of Foundation: 2019
Total funding: $42.3 M
Copper is a FinTech startup founded in 2019 with an eye on users aged 10 to 19. The company offers debit cards with an application that users and their parents can access. The startup helps its clients keep track of expenses and plan budgets and gives tips for those who are just starting to use the services of banks.
As a rule, parents use Copper to transfer money to teenagers and control their expenses, according to the startup. At the same time, younger users rely on Copper to make direct deposits for future savings, pay for everyday services with Apple Pay or Google Pay, and complete reward quizzes. Copper gives its clients “lessons"” related to the basics of finance, such as dividends, budgeting, and compound interest. The company advertises that parents use Copper to send money to teenagers and control their spending. Teens can set up direct deposits for work after school and summer and pay friends using P2P money transfers. FinTech also offers advice on what it describes as the “basics of finance,” such as dividends, budgeting, and compound interest.
In the coming months, Copper intends to focus on developing investment services. The startup wants to give its customers the ability to channel funds from their accounts into a “wide range” of assets, from stocks to mutual funds and digital currencies. Behringer noted that the decision to enter this market was motivated by strong user demand.
Year of Foundation: 2018
Total funding: $1.4 M
Radpay is an online payment solution that helps customers checkout faster, resulting in fewer abandoned carts. It is one of the best blockchain startups that connects blockchain with PCI-compliant payment cards and banking infrastructure. It provides secure transactions for merchants through a combination of mobile apps, browser plugins, application programming interfaces (APIs), pre-configured e-commerce shopping cart plugins, and credit card terminal applications.
It is ideal for merchants who want an alternative to their current payment processing that charges high fees and provides below-average service. Depending on your business, Radpay can help you increase margins by as much as 200%.
Country: UK
Year of Foundation: 2017
Total funding: $275.7 M
Hastee is a web and mobile application that provides benefits for employees, allowing them to receive part of their earnings on demand when needed. This promotes financial well-being and allows employees to have more freedom to use their paycheck according to their needs while still receiving investment.
Hastee is known for its quality service and the value it offers. This allows employees to receive an advance when the company makes a sale.
Total funding: $56.5 M
RevenueCat and its product were created by developers who understood firsthand the difficulties of managing this type of application. According to RevenueCat CEO Jacob Eiting and CTO Carranza Guisado, they got the idea for the project while working on Elevate, a paid-for brain training app. The need to independently seek answers to many questions that arose during the workflow convinced them that the product would have great potential for solving such a problem.
Using RevenueCat, developers have access to a dashboard that displays key real-time metrics such as subscription revenue, churn rate, lifetime value, subscribers, conversions, and more. Data can be shared with and integrated into tools and services such as Apple Search Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Cloud Intercom, Mixpanel, Segment, and others.
To date, the startup’s tools have been used in the creation and development of more than 6,000 applications, and the total tracked subscription revenue with their help has amounted to more than $ 1 billion. Compared to last year, the number of service customers has doubled.
Total funding: $100.2 M
Founded in 2017, Securitize creates shares as unique digital tokens and records them on a decentralized blockchain network, allowing businesses to know who owns each share and access all trading activity in real-time. Currently, over 150 clients and 50,000 investors use their platform to issue digital securities in compliance with all regulations and requirements. Securitize’s subsidiary, Securitize Markets LLC, is a broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS) registered with the SEC and FINRA.
Securitize offers solutions for private companies to raise capital and issue both traditional and tokenized shares, among other services. The acquisition enables clients of Pacific Stock Transfer, which will continue to operate under its current name, and its shareholders to access new blockchain-based services such as capital raising and secondary trading.
Year of Foundation: 2015
Total funding: $1.3 B
Founded in 2015, Trade Republic Bank GmbH is considered Germany’s first mobile and commission-free broker and boasts a wide range of trading products and services as well as several well-known and successful partners. The history of the company is as interesting as the founders themselves.
The two founders, namely Christian Hecker and Thomas Pischke, got to know each other while studying in 2011 and kept in touch afterward. While Christian was in investment banking, Thomas worked for a financial technology company. Finally, they met Marco Cancelleri, and while discussing the topic of investment, the idea of Trade Republic was born, and an online broker was founded in 2015.
Only two years later, in 2017, the founders were able to convince financial services company Sino AG of their concept, who joined the company as a strategic investor. Two years later, Trade Republic was again BANKIKG licensed to trade in securities, fulfilling the founders’ goal and bringing the idea of a mobile and commission-free broker to life.
Another important point that potential clients are happy to take into account when choosing a broker is the variety of the offer, as well as the current conditions of the respective provider. Finally, the customer would like to be able to choose between a variety of products and at the same time enjoy the benefits of attractive conditions.
Country: India
Total funding: $50 M
NuovoPay is a startup focused on securing device leasing and supporting Haas (hardware as a service). Some financial companies and mobile operators have not taken advantage of device leasing financial services to make mobile devices available to people without a credit score. This is an important part of empowerment through mobility, and renting is a critical element in bridging the digital divide.
NuovoPay, with its proprietary device locking software, allows leasing companies, financial institutions, and telecom operators to protect their rented devices from non-payment. NuovoPay’s non-intrusive software is installed on rented mobile devices and can be used to display payment reminders on device screens and block access to the device if a payment is missed. When the end user completes the pending payment, the device is unlocked, the device data remains intact, and it can be used as is. From the NuovoPay control panel, leasing companies can keep track of their rented devices, automate or schedule payment reminders, and block or unblock device access with a single click.
Total funding: $118.9 M
Founded by “serial entrepreneur” Asher Ismail (who was recently CEO of Midrive) and Piotr Pisarz, Uncapped decided to use a variety of marketing, commercial, and accounting data to be able to offer funding to young businesses based on their current (and projected) income.
In particular, Uncapped says that their tool allows founders to access working capital ranging from £10,000 to £1 million for a flat fee of 6%. This approach is a reasonable alternative for growing companies that do not want to give away a stake in a company in exchange for capital.
Uncapped works in the field of revenue-based financing (RBI, revenue-based investing, or revenue-based financing). The company is offering recurring e-commerce startups an alternative to venture capital financing with specialized personal loans up to £5m ($6.8m).
Country: Ireland
Total funding: $1.6 B
The startup, which provides revenue-based funding and marketing analytics for online businesses, is now valued at $1.6 billion (€1.4 billion) after its latest fundraiser.
Wayflyer, founded by Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierce in September 2019, provides online retailers with affordable, non-dilutive, and unsecured capital to secure advertising and inventory before selling products. It also offers detailed analytics to help customers improve their sales performance.
Wayflyer now operates in Europe and plans to invest more than $100 million this year in Spain and the Netherlands.
Total funding: $500 M
Founded by Philip Belaman, Zilch is hailed as the fastest-growing FinTech in Europe. According to the online publication Sifted, he turned into a unicorn in just 40 months. Founded in July 2018, Zilch raised $110 million in a Series B funding round last November based on a $2 billion valuation of the company (in March, it was valued at only $500 million).
Zilch operates on the increasingly popular BNPL (buy now, pay later) model — “buy now, pay later.” It offers online installment payments for purchases. The buyer pays 25% of the cost of the goods immediately and then three times — once every two weeks — gives another quarter of the amount.
If the product is purchased in a store that works with Zilch, the buyer does not overpay anything - the startup takes a commission from the store. “We make free installments more accessible. We want our customers to be able to go anywhere and buy anything,” Belaman told Yahoo Finance. If a purchase is made from a company that does not have an agreement with Zilch, the client has to pay a small commission. The startup website provides an example for a £400 purchase. Immediately the client pays 100 pounds (a quarter of the cost) and, on top of that — 2.5 pounds of commission. In the next six weeks, he pays three tranches of 100 pounds.
Year of Foundation: 2016
Total funding: $18.2 M
CNote (a FinTech startup from Oakland, California) believes that financial products should not just serve a few wealthy individuals. That’s why CNote rewards money savers with financial plans that help them earn passive income, thereby helping CNote users make as much as 2.5% profit on their earnings annually. CNote is certified by the US treasury and uses the U.S. Treasury-certified financial institution called CDFI. The money savers can enjoy a low-risk, high-yield return through inclusive economic investments.
Country: Bulgaria
Total funding: $1 B
Payhawk recently became the first Bulgarian unicorn worth over $1 billion. The FinTech company specializes in consolidating solutions in the spend management market. This mainly concerns corporate credit cards, bill payment, expense reimbursement, and accounting automation.
The Bulgarian FinTech startup was launched in 2018. There are three founders behind Payhawk: Hristo Borisov, Boyko Karajovi Konstantin Dzhengozov.
Like most startups, Payhawk also had to solve certain problems. The team believed they could help companies optimize their costs. Not surprisingly, it took them only five days to prepare the demo product. The rest is history.
Now, following a series of investments, Payhawk has expanded its Series B funding round to $215 million. Interestingly, the value of the company in November 2021 was $570 million, and six months later, it doubled. Their main investors are Greenoaks, QED Partners, Earlybird Digital East, Sprints Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, HubSpot Ventures, and Jigsaw VC.
Year of Foundation: 2012
Total funding: $252 M
Investors can take advantage of PrimaryBid’s centralized infrastructure, which provides ordinary investors with access to the process of issuing shares, including the sale of shareholdings. Including individual investors in the process will help the company improve pricing and liquidity for its clients. The company’s solution allows individual investors to participate in the project at the same time and at the same price, providing open access regardless of the size of their investment. The service is free for all investors who deposit £100 or more.
PrimaryBid has no competitors because individual investors have not previously had access to discounted stock offerings offered by investment banks. This is due to the fact that the retail investment market is too fragmented, and such transactions are very time-dependent. As a consequence, these attractive deals were previously available only to investment bank clients (i.e., legal entities).
Thus, listed companies wishing to raise more capital on the stock exchange by issuing new shares can now reach out to ordinary investors and offer them these shares at the same discount rates as they are offered to institutional investors.
If FinTech platforms become leaders in working with individuals and corporate clients, the existing banking system will shrink to a narrow set of financial services. It will accept deposits, but it will only be able to guarantee income for the safest of them.
Already, traditional banks are experiencing a decline in profits and are forced to increase the cost of their services. At this time, FinTech companies can fully adapt to the needs of depositors and borrowers, develop their infrastructure and radically change the banking system.
If you want your FinTech project to be among the top FinTech startups, contact us, and our development team will help you become the best of the best.
2021-07-29 / mod. 2022-07-29
Enjoy this blog? Please, spread the word :)
Education Technology: A Complete Guide to EdTech
Best Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) Frameworks in 2022
10 Retail trends 2022-2023 that will be relevant in the coming years
Development of high-load fintech applications
Have you used Automatic Machine Learning technology in your business yet? Read what are the best AutoML frameworks and write to us if you have any questions.
Written by Nazariy H.
2022-11-28
What new trends will determine the future of Retail? We have selected the ten most notable trends that will affect business this year.
Written by Oksana T.
2022-11-24
Do your system still work on heavy load? Find out all pros and cons of high-load applications and order one now to outstand your competitors with Geniusee.
Written by Taras T.
2022-11-21
Get the right technical partner in Poland. Geniusee offers best custom fintech and edtech software development services across Eastern Europe
Written by Yaryna Y.
2022-11-16
In this article, we share our knowledge and experience in developing cryptocurrency trading applications.
Written by Pavlo K.
2022-11-10
Find out what technological solutions are in greatest demand in retail. Geniusee will help you develop the best go-to-market retail software based on trends.
2022-11-07
In this article we will share information about git branching model. The git flow model was released by Vincent Driessen and helps to hotfix problems quickly.
Written by Ihor D.
2022-10-25
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solutions are popular alternatives to credit cards. With proper assistance, companies can develop their own BNPL apps.
2022-10-21
Have you ever wondered how to keep a user on your website for ages and prevent exit for as long as possible? Here are some tips based on the Geniusee marketing team experience
Written by Sofiia K.
2022-10-18
Find out what are the features of finance application development to ensure that your product will hit the market and bring your business to the top
2022-10-13
After identifying business needs and problems, don’t wait to figure out which artifacts best suit your developer's requirements.
Written by Yevhen K.
2022-10-10
Did you know Airflow can help you automate tasks in your IT workflow and boost your productivity? Here’s a detailed Apache Airflow overview to help you.
Written by Oleg S.
2022-10-06
Check out how to provide an efficient incident response to possible cyber threats and malicious activities.
2022-10-04
In this article, review ✔MLOps best practices, ✔ Risks & Challenges, ✔Benefits of MLOps solutions that automate and shorten the machine learning cycle.
Written by Sofiia V.
2022-09-26
Are FinTech and RegTech the same? Find out the key definitions and technologies involved to understand the difference.
2022-09-20
We can either change an existing retail software solution or develop retail software from scratch that meets your requirements. Let's discover our successfully implemented projects in the field of e-commerce.
An on-demand video learning platform that has reshaped the learning and development landscape in the global financial services industry. Designed to empower professionals with...
A sports marketing platfrom for athletes and companies that empowers marketing campaigns and brings brands and ambassadors to the next level of cooperation
A digital platform built to merge traditional banking systems with new-age digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The platform allows tracking and managing of children’s...
Android and iOS mobile app with automated payments, add geolocation services, integrate local market stakeholders, and as a result - the product for rapid grocery delivery in...
Meet one of our clients – Drum! This 5-star application is a platform designed for creators. That’s a great tool for people who care about their personal brands to engage with...
Our client, a technology solutions company in MedTech, aims to make the latest technological advances available to millions by providing high-caliber, more affordable solutions...
Our main goal was to develop a digital platform for healthy habits called EinkaufsCHECK. We aimed to create a hybrid app for iOS and Android for the easiest and most accurate...
Our client is a secure, automated platform that streamlines the merchant cash advance process and enables ISOs and lenders to manage their businesses from one centralized, convenient...
For Crave retail Geniusee has developed 2 enterprise mobile applications that solve the double-sided problem for every shopper visiting the fitting room. The Fitting Room application...
Outstanding case in Geniusee portfolio, Pause – mobile app for meditation. iOS application was downloaded 1000+ times on the launch day.
The Ajuma company was founded by a couple after the birth of their child. They wanted to protect their baby from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation sunburn and from...
Zedosh is a new digital advertising platform that financially empowers Gen Z. Using Open Banking, we provide insights into their spending behaviour, tips on how to master money...
Revenu is an All in one POS (Point of sale) management system . It uses the latest trends of technology to manage different types of Food & Beverage from scratch up to reaching...
Realm Five develops devices that collect various data, such as soil moisture, rainfall, amount of water in tanks, condition of tractors and their location, etc. from different...
FactMata is an AI-based platform that identifies and classifies content. Advanced natural language processing learns what different types of deceptive content look...
Tradesmarter is leading in providing white label trading solutions offering a web responsive trading platform that enables top financial companies to unleash a new...
Swoon is an online furniture brand with a difference. Their main idea is that everyone should be able to buy beautifully designed and crafted furniture at reasonable...
Frenotec LLC is a motorcycle distribution company eventually grew into the nation’s largest distributor of Brembo motorcycle brake components as well as became the...
Validify Access is a new innovation discovery platform that showcases only best-in-class and pre-vetted emerging retail technology solutions. Validify helps leading...
NCourage was created to understand the nature of anxiety & stress, the cause of problems with falling asleep, which promotes personal growth, success work and...
Wyzoo App is built on artificial intelligence and learning techniques to identify patterns in your customer data.
Tamam on-demand mobile application connects customers with independent local couriers, who acquire goods from any restaurant or shop in a city and also deliver urgent...
DigitalBits™ is an open-source project supporting the adoption of blockchain technology by enterprises. The technology enables enterprises to tokenize assets on the decentralized...
The blockchain based platform - Totalizator. The goal of this R&D project was to validate the possibility of using blockchain technology in order to create an objective...
The Virtual Console is the graphics space that actually allows you to control your light shows during live events. It visually displays a number of so called widgets and...
PoolParty app allows increasing your popularity on Instagram by sharing links to the community of users, that will like, share and follow such links.
My Uber app allows everyone with a car to join the community of uber drivers within a couple of clicks - the company will take care of everything else. My Uber provides support...
This system empowers traders with the possibility to quickly analyze cryptocurrency market information.
This system provides a complete omnidirectional view for armored vehicles crew (transparent walls effect) and the possibility to receive necessary data and interactive tips...
BuzzShow is a video social media network which incorporates the blockchain technology in a reward-based ecosystem. The platform offers full decentralization and a unique social...
ZaZa is an expert in online learning and education abroad that helps its clients to get the highest quality services for quite affordable prices. They bring together native-speakers...
PrintBI has the largest and most detailed database of printing companies worldwide, powered by advanced technologies and...
CEO
The website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more
Tell us how we can help you.
