Financial Technology Category Innovation Quadrant – Q4
FinTech Category Innovation Quadrant
Our Innovation Quadrant provides a snapshot of the average funding and average age for the different FinTech categories and how they compare with one another.
- Heavyweights: Categories with high average funding and high average age. These categories are comprised of companies that have reached maturity with significant financing.
- Established: Categories with low average funding and high average age. These categories are comprised of companies that have reached maturity with less financing.
- Disruptors: Categories with high average funding and low average age. These categories are comprised of companies that are less mature with significant financing.
- Pioneers: Categories with low average funding and low average age. These categories are comprised of companies that are less mature with earlier stages of financing.
The definitions of the FinTech categories represented in the above Innovation Quadrant are as follows:
Banking Infrastructure: Solutions that improve the operations of financial institutions. Examples include API integration with banks, white-label mobile solutions, and big-data analytics.
Business Lending: New ways for companies to raise debt financing and have their credit risk assessed. Examples Include peer-to-peer lending platforms, asset-based lines of credit, micro-financing, and big data risk analytics.
Consumer and Commercial Banking: New ways for consumers and SMBs to interface with banking services. Examples include Internet-only banking services and virtual credit cards.
Consumer Lending: New ways for consumers to obtain personal loans and have their credit risk assessed. Examples includes peer-to-peer lending, micro-financing, big data analytics, and consumer credit scoring services.
Consumer Payments: Payment companies centered around issuers and consumers. Examples include mobile wallets, credit card aggregators, prepaid card innovations, and peer-to-peer payments.
Crowdfunding: New ways for companies to raise non-equity and non-debt financing. Examples include crowdfunding platforms for products, social causes, and creative projects.
Equity Financing: News ways for private companies to raise capital in exchange for equity and for investors to participate in private securities markets. Examples include crowdsourcing platforms and secondary market solutions.
Financial Research and Data: Information services that enable investors to make better investment decisions. Examples include news, research, and data sources.
Financial Transaction Security: New ways for companies to secure transactions, authenticate users, and prevent fraud. Examples include identify verification, big data analytics, and fraud detection algorithms.
Institutional Investing: New ways for wealth managers, hedge fund managers, and professional traders to manage their portfolios and optimize returns. Examples include tools for stock sentiment analysis, alternative investment platforms, and algorithmic trading tools.
International Money Transfer: Companies that allow businesses and individuals to send money abroad easily and cheaply. Examples include digital-only remittances, mobile top-off services, and gift cards.
Payments Backend and Infrastructure: Payment companies centered around issuers/acquirers and the infrastructure enabling payments. Examples include payment solutions for e-commerce merchants, online payment gateways, ACH, direct deposits, and payment back-ends for mobile apps.
Personal Finance: New ways for consumers to manage their personal finances. Examples include tools for tracking expenses, managing a budget, addressing wrongful credit card charges, and optimizing credit card rewards.
Point of Sale Payments: Payment companies centered around acquirers, providing physical payment solutions for brick-and-mortar businesses and organizations. Examples include mobile point-of-sales (POS) systems and POS innovations (e.g. QR code, palm scanners).
Retail Investing: New ways for consumers to invest in various securities. Examples include theme-based investments, crowdsourced investment expertise, unbiased algorithmic investment advice, and investment social networks.
Small and Medium Business Tools: Tools that help small and medium sized businesses manage their finances. Examples include tools for taxes, payroll, invoicing, and accounting.
We are currently tracking 1998 Financial Technology companies in 16 categories across 59 countries, with a total of $54.7 Billion in funding. Click here to learn more about the full Financial Technology landscape report and database.