Two Singapore-based fintech companies – Silent8 and SoCash – feature among ‘Emerging 50’ most promising fintech companies in the 2017 Fintech100 released today.

The Fintech100 includes the ‘Leading 50’ fintech firms around the globe, ranked based on innovation, capital raising activity, size and reach; and the ‘Emerging 50’, exciting new fintechs that are at the forefront of innovative technologies and practices, and are often pursuing new business models.

The Fintech100 is published by Fintech Innovators, a collaboration between Fintech investment firm H2 Ventures and KPMG Fintech.

Silent8 utilises artificial intelligence, machine learning and various technologies in the area of cyber security to address money laundering and terrorist financing issues. Financial institutions and banks can see greater efficiency and productivity by cutting out the noise around financial crimes while staying alert to financial crime.

SoCash serves the banking industry, by addressing cash logistics issues. It bridges the gap between banks and their customers using a mobile app so that customers can access their cash regardless of time or location. Every shop is transformed into a scalable digital, cash distribution network where users can utilise the shared economy to improve cash circulations.

Chia Tek Yew, Head of Financial-Services Advisory at KPMG in Singapore said:

“Having two Singapore-based fintech companies in the Emerging 50 demonstrates Singapore’s rise as a significant fintech hub and complements our position as a financial hub. Fintech companies looking for a test-bed location with access to a growing Asian market will find no better location than to start-up here.”

Key highlights from the 2017 Fintech100 include:

• China fintechs take the top three places on the list, and Chinese firms account for five of the top 10;
• Global fintech innovation continues to accelerate, with 29 different countries represented in the Fintech100, up from 22 countries in 2016;
• ASPAC is on the rise, with 30 fintechs on this year’s list; while the UK and EMEA dominate the Emerging 50 with 26 companies; the US placed 19 companies on the full list, the most of any country, and three in the top 10;
• ‘Disruptors’ dominate – fintechs focused on disrupting traditional models represent 73 of the Fintech100;
• Lending and payments focused companies continue to be lead in terms of sectors, with 32 and 21 respectively on the full list. 15 companies are in transactions/capital markets and 12 are in insurtech.

Overall, the Fintech100 includes:

• 41 companies from the UK and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa),
• 29 companies from the Americas (North and South America), and
• 30 companies from ASPAC (including Australia and New Zealand).

Ian Pollari, Global Co-Lead of KPMG Fintech, commented:

“Disruptive fintech companies continue to dominate the Fintech 100, representing strong interest from investors in business models and management teams that are seeking to radically change the industry paradigm.

That said, the importance of ‘enablers’ – companies working in cooperation with financial services institutions to steadily improve products and services – has remained steady. Across the 2017 list, there are 27 such enablers; working across accounting, insurance and banking,”

he said.

Ben Heap, Founding Partner at H2 Ventures said:

“The top 10 are a strong reflection of the diversity of fintech innovation. There are fintechs with lending and payment platforms, insurtech, digital banking and companies applying big data to fintech. Superior data & analytics capability notably will be a requirement to be a great financial services firm in the future, be it a traditional bank or a game changing fintech startup.”

The Top 10 companies in the 2017 Fintech100

Other key insights from the 2017 Fintech100 report

• Aggregate capital raised remains significant – the top 50 companies have raised US$4.8B in the last year alone and over US$27Bn in aggregate capital over their lifetimes. The ‘Emerging 50’ have raised over US$600M in the last year and just over US$1B in total, since founding.
• Major funding rounds dominate investment – 12 companies on the Fintech100 had raised over US$100M, notably ZhongAn’s US$1.5B raise in conjunction with its recent IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• ‘Disruptors’ continue to stand out – fintechs focused on disrupting technologies continue to dominate, accounting for 73 of the Fintech 100. These are companies that are radically changing their industry paradigm for all players.
• Lending and payments lead – The number of lending and payments related businesses continue to stand out in this year’s Fintech 100, with 32 and 21 respectively.
• Open banking around the world – Open banking regulation in the UK, Europe, the United States and Australia has been a major catalyst for innovation, with 15 companies working in the related areas included on the Fintech100.

How is the Fintech100 selected?

The Fintech100 were selected following extensive global research and analysis based on data relating to five factors. Two criteria are related to capital raising reflecting the emphasis that venture capitalist investors place on the ability of firms to innovate in order to generate a long term sustainable competitive advantage.

1. Total capital raised
2. Rate of capital raising
3. Geographic diversity
4. Sector diversity
5. 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)

View the full Fintech100 list or download the report at www.fintechinnovators.com.