As an industry, FinTech continues to set records with investment capital raised — $52B in 2018 (up $28B from the last year).

The FinTech100 is an extensive annual report created by KPMG and H2 Ventures, showcasing the industry trends and innovative global companies in FinTech that are driving the most disruption through technology.  The 2018 FinTech100 was released earlier this month and marks the fifth edition of the report (going back to 2013), which continues to discuss indicators of change, and potential strategic opportunities for growth.

How the List Breaks Down

 The actual list of the 100 featured companies is divided in two, with half of the group representing the top 50 established fintechs and the other top 50 as emerging firms that are pushing forward with their innovative tech and processes.

Each company is evaluated based on the following criteria: 

- Capital raising efforts (average and recent rates)

- Diversity (geographic and industry sector) 

- X-factor (subjective context related to a company’s product / service offering and its  innovation) 

FinTech100 featured 18 countries from U.K. and EMEA, 11 from Asia Pacific, and 7 from North / South America.   

The list was represented with an assortment of industry sectors as well: 34 payments firms, 21 in lending, 14 in wealth management, 12 insurance, 10 neo-banks, 4 multi-sector (connecting various areas), and 5 from other categories such as compliance or data analytics. 

Top 10 of the FinTech100

Here are the top 10 fintechs of the 2018 FinTech100: 

1) Ant Financial (China) focuses on payments and the third largest global platform;  

2) JD Finance (China) offers an assortment of financial services with a specialized focus on innovating data, user experience, and connectivity — one of the leaders in applying newer technologies (i.e. blockchain, AI, cloud, IoT); 

3)  Grab (Singapore) focuses on payments in the transportation arena in Asia;

4) Du Xiaoman Financial (China) is a lender (short-term) and investments provider; 

5) SoFi (US) expanded from student loans to deeper wealth and lending options for young professionals; 

6) Oscar Health (US) is disrupting the health insurance arena with tech;

7) NuBank (Brazil) has been focusing on credit cards and payments as a neo-bank;

8) Robinhood (US) is popular brokerage offering stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency options without commissions; 

9) Atom Bank (UK) is a growing digital-only bank;

10) Lufax (China) focuses on online trading with data and risk analysis; 

Top Industry Trends to Watch

 As 2018 comes to close, here are the continuing or emerging trends into 2019:

- Increasing in fundings and participation from big name investors;

- China continues its industry leadership by providing deeper selection of services;

-  Neo-banks continue to grow in popularity;  

- Tech giants looking to expand into fintech community;  

- Diversified growth from emerging countries;

- InsurTech continues to develop and gain traction;

- Controversial ICOs are a still a strong factor in the industry.

Overall, FinTech as an industry continues to grow globally across an increasingly diverse mix of countries and sectors.  This rate of growth is anticipated to accelerate further as emerging technologies push innovation forward in improving user experience and financial wellness.

 Thanks for reading!  Here are some other articles on fintech for you to check out.