Paying: Paypal, Remitly
Investing: Greedot, MercadoLibre
Borrowing: Credifi, Prosper
Saving: Glint
Lending: Salt Lending, Tala
Insurance: Bima, Slice
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Canada- Fintech companies.
Pay- Nanopay
Invest-Canalyst.
Borrow-KoHo
Save-Nestwealth
Lend-Paybright.
Insure-Goose
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Assignment – Introduction to Fintech
- Use google to find fintechs that are active in your region. Try to find at least one for each of the 6 pillars of finance and write a couple of sentences on what each and one of the fintechs are doing and share your answer in the forum if you like
PAY: BRAINTREE
Industry: Payments
Location: Chicago, Illinois
What it does: A division of PayPal, provides payment services to businesses of all sizes. Accepting payment types ranging from credit cards to Venmo, its products help companies that operate online and as marketplaces to bolster security, prevent fraud and safeguard user information.
PAY: VENMO
Location: New York, Chicago
What it does: Venmo makes it simple to exchange money between
friends or even accept payments as a business. Going out to dinner
with a friend and don’t want to split the bill with credit cards or cash?
Maybe you want to pay your dog walker with something other than a
check? Venmo’s app makes it easy to transfer money from your bank
account into another users, so you can keep track of payments in realtime.
PAY: GRAVITY PAYMENTS
Industry: Payments
Location: Seattle
What it does: Gravity Payments is a payment processing platform for
small businesses that features lower rates and flexible processing
solutions. The company’s platform streamlines financial transaction
processing for everything from credit cards to POS systems and even
gift cards.
INVEST: COINBASE
Industry: Blockchain, Bitcoin
Location: San Francisco, California
What it does: Coinbase is an online platform for buying, selling and
managing digital currency that provides users with secure mobile
access to their digital assets. Coinbase supports 32 countries and has
exchanged more than $150 billion in various forms of digital currency,
including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin.
INVEST: ROBINHOOD
Industry: Stocks
Location: Menlo Park, California
What it does: Robinhood is an investment application that allows
users to invest for free from a desktop or mobile device. Because there
are no physical locations or individual account management services,
Robinhood aims to make investing accessible to would-be traders who
can’t quite swing the fees of a traditional brokerage house
BORROW: BLEND
Industry: Consumer Lending
Location: San Francisco
What it does: Blend’s digital lending platform simplixes the loan
process and gives consumers a more transparent look into their
xnances. The platform combines low-touch pre-approval processes
with quick data verixcation tools to create a software that automates
and expedites the lending process for everything from mortgages to
car loans. Blend provides major xnancial institutions, like Wells Fargo,
US Bank, and BMO Harris, with the tools they need to process billions
of dollars of loans each day.
BORROW: AVANT
Industry: Lending
Location: Chicago, Illinois
What it does: Avant is a loan service for middle-income consumers
that offers loans ranging from $2,000-$35,000. The service operates
largely as a resource for customers to access funds for things like
consolidating debt or paying unexpected bills. Avant requires only a
simple application and approves loans in as little as one day.
SAVE: AVANT
Industry: Banking
Location: San Francisco
What it does: Varo Money is a digital consumer bank using its digital
app and other fintech tools to help users get a more complete look
into their finances. The digital-first company offers both checking and
savings accounts, which can be accessed through their fully
transparent app. The app gives users insights into spending habits and
even allows for instant money transfers. There isn’t a minimum
balance required to receive a Varo debit card, and there are zero fees
for overdrafts, foreign transactions or transfers.
SAVE: CHIME
Industry: Banking
Location: San Francisco, California
What it does: Chime is a pioneering mobile bank that offers no-fee
and automatic savings accounts as well as early payday via direct
deposit. With over one million opened accounts, Chime is reportedly
one of the fastest growing banks in the United States
LEND: MyConstant
Industry: Experience multi-market peer-to-peer lending.
Location: California, Vietnam, Malta, and Hong Kong
Invest in people and businesses around the world for up to 11% APR. All lending is backed by borrower collateral or buy-back guarantee. Earn across multiple markets, spreading risk and maximizing reward.
Or, borrow against 73+ cryptocurrencies to get the cash you need, instantly. Your crypto is securely held until you repay. Unlock the value of your crypto without selling it.
While not on loan or waiting for a match, your funds earn an automatic 4% APY, and you can withdraw anytime for free. So no downtime, no wasted earnings.
LEND: Aave
The Aave lending protocol has a feature called Credit Delegation. It allows you to lend a range of cryptocurrencies at both fixed and variable interest rates.
This system makes loan terms more flexible between the lender and the borrower but increases the risk of the investment. The returns vary depending on the type of cryptocurrency invested but can range anywhere from 0% to 16%.
INSURE: Lemonade
(NYSE:LMND)
Lemonade’s competitive advantage
Lemonade was built for a digital world, using big data and artificial intelligence to make its business more efficient. On the backend, Lemonade uses AI to manage workflow and predict fraud. And on the frontend, the company uses AI chatbots to interact with customers, underwrite policies, and pay claims . This allows Lemonade to provide a high-quality user experience at a lower cost than traditional insurers. For example, Lemonade estimates that its competitors employ one person per 150-450 customers, but Lemonade only employs one person per 2,000 customers . This type of efficiency reduces operating expenses and gives Lemonade an edge over its rivals.
Lemonade also collects more customer data than its rivals. For example, to purchase insurance, customers interact t with AI Maya, a chatbot who typically asks them 13 questions. During this quick process, Lemonade’s platform gathers 1,700 data points. In comparison, typical insurance companies gather 20-50 data points per policy.
INSURE: States Title
States Title is joining a handful of startups including OneTitle and Spruce that are using technology to search records quicker and without agents. That enables them to undercut the traditional players saving homeowners and mortgage companies time and money.
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- Pay : Ayden, Klarna, Payworks, Sicherbezalen.de, Revolut
- Investments : 3rd-eyes analytics AG, BUX, Commnex, Trade Republic
- Borrowing : Auxmoney
- Saving . Zins Pilot,
- Lending . Auxmoney, Bitbond
- Insurance . Clark Germany, Kasko GmbH
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1 Pay : Sbanken - A bank that bloomed because of zero fees for VISA transactions. I think it was the first internet based bank in Norway
2. Investments - Carn Capital - An investment organisation focused on long term gains. They are in my knowledge diligent in their analysis of each investment object
3. Borrowing : - DNB - The central bank of Norway. They are the biggest.
4. Saving . - Eika - A banking group that has many local banks
5. Lending . - Bank Norwegian - A lending company which has consumer debt and credit cards as products. They have som insurance products also
6. Insurance . Eika - A banking group that has many local banks
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The assignment helped me understand my local fintech infrastructure much better and made me realize what may be lacking in the local fintech services.
Payments Pillar
This is undoubtedly the most developed part of the fintech industry in my local region - Poland. There are two that are widely used and come to my mind first. Blik and Payu. Blik makes instant payments without a credit card fast and easy. They do that by generating a 6 number code that allows you to make transactions between banks, shops, and friends to split a bill.
On the other hand, Payu makes online transactions easy by allowing customers to choose between different payment gateways with ease, including Blik as one of the gateways of choice.
Investments Pillar
As there isn’t a popular investment fintech in Poland, I will mention the buzz of 2020, Robinhood. They allow you commission-free investing and earn money in various ways, including Gold membership fees, stock loans, and rebates from market makers and trading venues.
Borrowing Pillar
Lendi.pl is a company that provides very cheap online credit. They do that by analyzing what kind of credit you need and pulling different credit information from all Polish banks to help you choose the best one for your situation.
Saving Pillar
I could find no local fintechs focused only on this area, as banks mostly do it. But Revolut offers regular saving and investing as one of their services,
Lending Pillar
It’s another area in which local fintech’s are heavily underdeveloped, but one of the bigger ones is Finansowo.pl is a company that helps people lend and borrow money P2P.
Insurance Pillar
Link4.pl is a huge company in the Polish market that helps you find the best and cheapest insurance for various needs. They started by insuring cars only but now have moved to home and life.
Summary
Even though I didn’t list many here, I would say that international fintech companies such as Revolut are strongly influencing the Polish market. Still, there are many opportunities for new polish based fintech companies to emerge as there is currently a significant market gap.
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Klarna is a fintech company in payment solutions for online storefronts. Klarna seems to combine payment solutions with consumer credits, considering that you can use the service to buy now and pay later. The Swedish based company has gained customers in USA too, besides Europe. The company is valued at 5 Billion euros.
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Nutmeg is a UK based online investment manager. According to their web page they are the largest digital wealth manager in the UK with oover 100k customers. Nutmeg is valued at 228 Million euros.
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and 5. Oaknorth is a UK based company active in lending to lower mid-market businesses globally. According to their web page they provide data and technology-driven solutions to borrowers and lenders. So that’s two pillars in one go. Valuation €2.50 B.
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According to https://sifted.eu/european-fintech-startups/: N26 is a Germany based online bank targeting millennials. Being a bank it covers the pillar of saving. Valuation €3.18 B.
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Wefox.de is in insurance. According to their web page the company is your digital all-in-one insurance solution. Valuation €1.55 B.
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Dutch FinTech Market view. I learned there are hundreds of companies already. Good starting point is Holland FinTech, although membership is required some assets are free.
Pay - Mollie (https://www.mollie.com/en) is a startup that offers a simple, API-based way to integrate payments into a site or an app.
Save - GoSherpy, is focused on helping young professionals (25-35y) reach their buying objectives through savings. Business can integrate this system directly into their sales process to enable the saving mechanism, effectively bringing them closer to this target audience while growing sale volume and increasing retention on existing clients. Think 'activated’ wish lists where customers are actively saving towards 'loved’ items.
Invest - Brand New Day (https://new.brandnewday.nl) a scientific investment approach, low cost, long term, spread, no gambling, very dull but effective. Strategy is efficiency longer term.
Borrow - Hypotheek24 - provides mortgage very fast and cheap.
Lend LendaHand Crowdfunding a better world one investment at a time. Invest in entrepreneurs in developing countries and earn up to 7% interest annually.
Insure OpenClaims (https://www.openclaims.com/en) offers a customer-focused Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) solution to insurers and car leasing companies. With our software, we enable our customers to digitize and optimize their damage processes, lowering process costs and claim costs, while improving customer satisfaction
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For this assignment I used a Dutch website listing many FinTech companies: https://hollandfintech.com/members/
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Payment: Buddy Payment (https://buddypayment.nl/)
This company helps people manage their personal cashflows -
Lending: October (https://nl.october.eu/)
This company connects both retail and institutional investors with SME’s to finance their growth.
Lending for SME’s: Bridgefund (https://www.bridgefund.nl/)
This company helps entrepreneurs to find funds by connecting them to other entrepreneurs who have funds for investing.
3.Investing: DeFi Capital (https://deficapital.com/)
DeFi Capital is an cryptocurrency investment fund for decentralized finance -
Insurance: Zanders (https://zanders.eu/en/)
This company helps to mitigate risks and find insurances for companies
5.Borrowing: Bankish (https://bankish.eu/)
Tailor-made lending and deposit system for professional loan providers -
Saving: MoneyYou (https://www.moneyou.nl/)
The company helps people to meet saving targets.
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Looking at the UK market, Fintech is one of its flagship sectors as London is a both a globally recognised centre for Financial services and also a renowned Tech hub for constant innovation.
As regards the 6 Pillars of Finance there are many to choose from but here are some from each:
PAY
Monzo: one of the largest, fastest growing Fintech’s active in the region. It allows its users to pay both in local currency but also, through its FX services, to make global payments in many foreign currencies while abroad. As such it is one of the world’s closest competitors to Revolut.
Similarly, Volopa have recently launched a very advanced equivalent FX & payments product, firstly in the Retail space, is similarly on its way to becoming a Neo-bank as regards local and global payments; and, its business product launching in Q1 2021 has, to my mind, some unrivalled features, and overall I consider it to be more of a corporate and HNW/ UHNW tailored Fintech offering (- they, and their parent Quantum Group, are also a company I am affiliated with, hence my initial interest in this course).
Apple Pay is also very popular in the UK, although Apple are on of the largest US corporations around, and so I believe we would refer to this as a Techfin solution, now that I am learning the terminology.
INVEST
Interactive Investor is an equities investment platform that is highly popular in the UK offering UK stocks, bonds, and ETF’s on the London Stock Exchange. In regards to pure equity offerings (rather than funds), it also allows its users to buy/sell (i.e. trade) stocks and shares in the following countries: UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Spain and, of course, the United States. I personally use it for my ISA (a tax free investment wrapper into which UK citizens can invest up to £20k per year), but if offers broader brokerage and pensions services, and I use it as I consider it easy to use and the most cost-effective as regards trading fees.
SAVE
Tandem and Plum are two popular savings mobile phone apps that I have heard people using regularly in the UK, and for which have seen advertising for. They have easy to use features for savers such as ‘automatic savings’, ‘rounding up to nearest pound and saving the change’, ‘analyses of spending habits with suggestions for saving amounts’, ‘easy withdrawals when goals are reached’ etc etc. However, since we know that savers (in fiat currencies) are severely punished due to negative real interest rates, this is the areas of Fintech that least interests me. Unless it is part of a broader package under the area of Fintech we just now learnt refer to as “the unbundling and re-bundling” of traditional banking services. And I note that a fellow student in response to this question has listed Monzo under this pillar because they similarly “automatically rounds up” payments, saving users the difference - as an example.
LENDING & BORROWING
I have grouped these together, since peer-to-peer is becoming such a dominant emerging trend in the lending and borrowing markets that it is these increasingly popular P2P apps or PaaS offerings that really do take the limelight. In the traditional currency P2P lending space, “The Lending Club” and also “Zopa” are well known and widely used in the UK, and they are able to also help diversify your investment on the lending side for greater security, while on both sides you benefit from far better than normal ‘market rates’ offered by traditional banks as you are cutting out the middlemen (corporate bankers). In 2005-2007, I worked in Digital Media agency where we helped launch Zopa in the UK.
Personally, however, as Crypto investor and enthusiast I use Celsius who are incorporated in the UK (even though they operate more out of the US), because I am able to learn >5% on my BTC and several other cryptocurrencies, >6% on my Ethereum and >16% on the likes of Matic and Synthetix. Because their largest borrowers tend to be institutions such as major exchanges and trading desks, they pay negligible fees by moving very large transactions and are therefore very profitable and sustainable in their ability to offer the lenders very high rates of return. On the borrowing side, I am able to take collateralised loans out against my crypto and rates as low as 1% for 3 years (or longer if you speak to them directly) - and so I can easily clear any debts such as credit cards and Oversdrafts without having to sell my crypto. I believe Cefi players such as this are the future of mainstream lending and borrowing, and also that pure-play Defi players will also be very successful for savvier users.
INSURANCE
Insuretech is becoming a very fruitful area of fintech in the UK, in terms of where many companies are seeing large opportunities to take market share and revenues. It is an area I am looking at for the first time, during the course of this research and so I will use the example of Zego, which “provides simple, flexible policies via app, web and phone, covering all kinds of enterprise at any size”. It is reportedly a start-up that "continues to launch new products and expand into new countries; and also it offers “a range of flexible motor, professional, and commercial insurance options.” (https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/technology/top-20-insurtech-companies-in-the-uk-210649.aspx)
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PAY
RIPPLE in San Francisco
How it’s using fintech in payments: uses blockchain to process and secure their RippleNet payment network. With RippleNet, customers have access to a network of more than 200 banks (including American Express, BMO and PNC), and they can make cross-border payments instantaneously. The company’s blockchain helps to encrypt each payment and allows for each money transfer to be easily traceable.
INVESTMENTS: SOFI in SanFrancisco. Social Finance, Inc. is an American online personal finance company. Based in San Francisco, SoFi provides student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, credit card, investing and banking
BORROWING: AFFIRM
Finances purchases of retail customers with instant loans at interest rates of 0% to 30%. Affirm connects directly to online stores. The idea behind is that customer purchases with Affirm during checkout at online store, which captures and processes order. Affirm settles the full amount with the store and services the loan directly with the customer.
SAVING: CHIME
San Francisco, California
(https://www.chimebank.com/) is a pioneering mobile bank that offers no-fee and automatic savings accounts as well as early payday via direct deposit. With over one million opened accounts, Chime is reportedly one of the fastest growing banks in the United States.
LENDING: fundera
Fundera is an online marketplace designed to help small businesses. It connects founders with 28 potential funding providers for their company. Pre-screened lenders assemble the highest quality funding sources and ensure that owners receive fair rates and terms on each loan granted. This idea of pre-approved loans will help save time and rejection for these owners to get their business underway as soon as possible. Already over 1,700 borrowers have used platform to borrow $85 million.
INSURANCE: 7. Trōv
Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trōv is an on-demand insurance platform that allows consumers to insure single items for any period of time they need entirely from their mobile phone. On its company website, the firm claims that it’s “reinventing insurance for the mobile generation by making it simple, flexible and transparent.” Claiming the 7th spot on the ranking, Trōv is available in Australia and the UK, and began its US roll-out in 2018.
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PAY:paytm is payment service like paypal it is famous in india
inscure:stra life
lend:slice
save:upstocks
borrow:sbi creditic card provider
borrow:muthur ifncop
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[quote=“thecil, post:1, topic:27120”]
forum
For Malaysia:
Lending - Funding societies - Largest peer to peer lending platform
Borrow - Quickkash - QuicKash is one of the 6 companies approved by Securities Commission as a P2P operator
Pay - Touch N Go - Touch ‘n Go, a subsidiary of CIMB Bank is the most widely used stored valued card for public transporation. It is slated to launch its mobile wallet in parternship with CIMB and Alipay in the near future
Save- Alipay,Boost - Boost is a stored value wallet operated by telco player Axiata Group that enables payments to merchant using QR Codes
Insurance - Uforlife - U For Life is an Insurtech company launched in 2015, the company has insured over RM 600 million and is considered the largest online term life insurance provided
Invest - Hellogold -HelloGold blends gold trading with blockchain technologies. Its app allows for customers to buy and sell physical gold for a minimum price of RM 1.
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Amazing response. 
Great work!
Pay - Paymentsense delivers face-to-face and virtual payment solutions to over 70,000 small businesses in the UK and Ireland. Its software also allows users to create and analyse sales reports to help businesses generate overviews and insights of their performance. Paymentsense processes over 250 million transactions per year, totalling over £10b worth of sales.
Paymentsense provides a range of face-to-face card payment machines; specifically countertop, portable and mobile card machines. The countertop machine is designed for payments made at the till, the portable machine can process payments made within a 100 metre range from the till and the mobile machine uses SIM card and GPRS connection, thus enabling the machine to be used anywhere.
Save - OakNorth Bank provides loans, property finance and savings accounts to entrepreneurs and growing companies. OakNorth was initially created with the aim of providing a ‘bank for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs’ and as one of the most active lenders in the UK today, it has still stuck to this premise. Since launching, it has lent over £3.3 billion and has over 55,000 customers with savings accounts, as well as being recognized on several high-growth lists such as Leap 100 and Tech City’s Future Fifty.
Invest -Nutmeg’s wealth management process consists of three stages. Firstly, investors set the amount of investment they would like to make and their risk preference, to form an overall investment goal. Next, investors choose how they would like their money to be invested. They can choose from three investment styles, namely: socially responsible (portfolios that consider environmental, social and ethical companies), fixed allocation (portfolios designed to perform without intervention) and fully managed (portfolios that are proactively managed, with strategic adjustments made). Investors can also choose whether all their capital is invested immediately or gradually.
Borrow - Prodigy Finance operates a platform through which international postgraduate students can receive loans for studying abroad. Prodigy Finance works with over 500 schools globally, spanning across North America, Europe and Asia. Loans are offered for postgraduate programmes in the fields of Business, Engineering, Law, Public Policy and Medical. Since formation, Prodigy Finance has processed over US$500 million in funding to 10,300 students.
Lend - iwoca provides small businesses in the UK with short-term loans. Businesses can apply for a loan ranging from £1,000 – £200,000, with startup businesses restricted to a maximum credit limit of £10,000. Most small businesses tend to use these loans for bridging short-term cash flow gaps and investing in stock opportunities.
A key feature of iwoca’s business is the ability for its technology to quickly and fairly assess the risk of a small business applying for a loan. An applying business’ company accounts, bank statements and VAT returns are all used by iwoca to make a lending decision.
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Pay : Braintree, a division of PayPal, provides payment services to businesses of all sizes. Accepting payment types ranging from credit cards to Venmo
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Investments : Acorns, Acorns is a savings and investment mobile application. Linked to a user’s financial accounts, it invests change from purchases in a diversified portfolio.
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Borrowing : PitchBook is a financial software and data company that provides information about public and private equity markets.
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Saving . Chime . Chime is a pioneering mobile bank that offers no-fee and automatic savings accounts as well as early payday via direct deposit
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Lending . Blend. Blend’s digital lending platform simplifies the loan process and gives consumers a more transparent look into their finances.
Avant is a loan service for middle-income consumers that offers loans ranging from $2,000-$35,000. -
Insurance . Insurify
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FinTechs in APAC (Asia Pacific)
1. Pay
Ant Group, or Alipay, as a payment tool with one-stop digital daily life services
2. Invest
Lufax, as 24/7 mobile wealth management services
3. Borrow
Sea, or SeaMoney as consumer internet company with a full digital bank license
4. Save
Grab, as a robust suite of financial products and services with digital banking license
5. Lend
Maneo, as P2P lending for consumer and SMEs loans
6. Insure
Singlife, as digitally-seamless and mobile-first insurance solutions
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Pay - Interac. Facilitates payments between Canadian banks for easy peer-to-peer transfers which can be sent via email or text message.
Investments - Edward Jones. Facilitates a number of investment-related products for Canadian citizens.
Borrowing - SoFi. Home, personal, and student loan services.
Saving - RBC. One of the largest Canadian banks.
Lending - goPeer. Connects credit-worthy Canadians looking for a loan with everyday Canadians looking to invest.
Insurance - insurance-canada.ca . Offers Home, Auto, Travel, Health, Business, Sports, and Life insurance.
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My examples are all Singapore based, I used most of them except for insurance. I guess SG’s pretty advanced in Fintech 
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Pay: In Singapore there is a company called NETS. Network for electronic Transfers (Singapore). They were the first company to introduce digital payments in SG and formed the bridge between banks, customers and merchants.
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Invest: Stashaway. Think of them as a fund manager but instead of individual customer portfolios, they create diff portfolios based on customer risk appetite. Customer chooses a risk level, deposits capital. Done. The fund then invests in Equity, Metals and so on based on their own investment strategies per risk portfolio. No min. Investment amount and fees are in the decimals per portfolio value, NOT per transaction.
3 & 4. Borrow/Lend. Funding society. Crowdfunding loans. To a business, they provide quick loans with low fees. To customers, they provide access to interest yielding investments at low capital volumes.
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Saving. Stashaway also has a savings solution. They have a product that generates higher interest than banks and they basically do it but creating a portfolio that’s just Singapore bonds. It’s only possible because Singapore’s economy is extremely stable.
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Insurance. FWD is a purely digital insurance company. It has one of the lowest premiums because of the way they structure their services to customers. No real magic here, lower opex higher savings.
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