The fintech industry as a whole is a fast-growing sector. In this Top 10, we track some of the fastest-growing from the past year, including companies from the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The US financial square founded by Block is one of the largest in the world today. Square enables SMEs to seamlessly process credit card transactions, encouraging the use of small devices such as smartphones and tablets as point-of-sale (POS) terminals. Scale has expanded its service offerings recently to include Square Payroll, Square Market, and Square Wallet. This happened before the launch of the new digital POS system and an update to the tablet POS technology.
Jianpu Technology is one of the leading independent open platforms for discovering and recommending financial products and services in China. Jianpu’s open platform provides opportunities for investors looking to enter the fintech space, offering stocks such as Nubank, PayPal, Visa and SoFi. Fintech tailors financial offerings to each consumer’s financial needs and credit ratings, while enabling financial service providers with sales and marketing solutions to meet their target customers. With solutions for online and mobile channels, Jianpu supports finserv competition through its end-to-end solutions.
American financial services firm and trading platform Robinhood has stood out for its growth over the past year. Now a leader in providing commission-free stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrency trades, the company is poised for significant growth in 2024, especially after expanding its crypto trading services to the EU in the previous year. In addition, Robinhood plans to soon expand its full-service options to the UK, allowing free trading access to 6,000 US stocks. This expansion is in line with the company’s global strategy. Recent enhancements to the platform include extended trading hours, a stock lending platform and automated recurring investments.
Founded by Tim Chen and Jacob Gibson in 2009, NerdWallet is one of the fastest growing fintech companies today. By offering consumer loan, insurance and credit card services, NerdWallet’s mission is to help foster a stronger financial planning culture in the US. The company expanded into the UK in 2020 after acquiring Know Your Money, a Norwich-based start-up providing a similar portfolio of comparison tools and information tailored to UK consumers. NerdWallet went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2021, and in 2023 had a reported 23 million average monthly users.
Revolut is the largest neobank in the UK and a major player in Europe. It recently revealed plans to provide mobile phone services in its native UK, a strategic move that is in line with its vision to evolve into a complete mobile ‘super app’. As it competes with established banks, Revolut has introduced new AI features to improve protection against card fraud, recognizing that a larger portfolio makes it more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Achieving these milestones is key to Revolut’s continued success, having already established its global leadership in fintech with a presence in 150 countries, serving 35 million personal customers and 500,000 businesses.
SoFi Technologies is a leader in lending and financial services today. Known for not charging any orientation fees, insufficient fund fees or late fees – SoFi’s offering brings peace of mind to users who use it. Based in San Francisco, the fintech’s financial services offerings extend to student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, credit cards and investment services. With banking services available through a mobile app and desktop interfaces, SoFi reported revenue growth of a record 47.38% between 2022 and 2023, making it one of the leading personal finance providers in the US.
Adyen is a leading payment gateway provider in Europe. Established in 2006, the fintech was founded by a team of entrepreneurs aiming to develop a platform to meet the demands of today’s fast-growing global enterprises. Today, Adyen is the fintech platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, including Meta, Uber, H&M, eBay and Microsoft. With its comprehensive payments capabilities, data-driven insights and financial products within a unified global solution, Adyen equips businesses with the essential tools for seamless payments, scalability and enhanced consumer journeys.
Formerly known as TransferWise, Wise has evolved to become a leader in international money transactions, offering fast and cost-effective transfers. Over time, Wise has expanded its services to include debit cards, multi-currency accounts and business accounts. Recently, Wise has stepped up its global regulatory compliance efforts by partnering with Frontier as part of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions. And in 2020, Wise secured its highest-ever funding round, raising $319 million at a company valuation of $5 billion. D1 Capital Partners led the investment with support from existing shareholder Lone Pine Capital. Headquartered in the UK, Wise maintains its leadership position in Europe and globally, with offices in London, Estonia, Turkey, Singapore and the US.
South America’s leading fintech and neobank – and still the fastest growing – Nubank reported revenue growth of an impressive 113.64% between 2022 and 2023, with 3-year revenue growth of 77.8% despite a barrage of macroeconomic headwinds and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. An all-digital bank, Nubank is a leader in customer-centric financial services in Brazil, with more customers abandoning long-standing, traditional institutions in favor of the more hassle-free and convenient services Nubank provides. Originally founded in Brazil, Nubank now also operates in Mexico and Colombia, serving over 70 million customers. The figures are growing only for the South American neobank.
