Financial technology (fintech) has transformed finance over the past decade thanks to startups using cutting edge software, blockchain, AI and more to create incredibly convenient and intuitive financial products. What started as disruptors are now becoming the status quo.
According to KPMG, global fintech investment surged from under $10 billion in 2016 to over $210 billion just six years later in 2021. Total users of fintech services also doubled from about 1 billion to over 2 billion in that same timeframe. This shows tremendous demand from consumers.
In this piece, we will analyze the 10 highest-grossing fintech companies worldwide and showcase the innovative products propelling their meteoric growth.
Article Sections:
- Overview of Major Fintech Sectors
- Top 10 Largest Fintech Companies by Revenue
- Market Share Dominance Analysis
- 5 Predictions for the Future of Fintech
Let‘s dive in and explore the fintech firms leading today‘s financial revolution.
Overview of Major Fintech Sectors
To level-set key terminology, these are the main fintech categories seeing incredible innovation:
Payments: digital wallets, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, payment processing
Lending: loans, crowdfunding
Investing: mobile trading apps, robo-advisors, equity crowdfunding
Cryptocurrency: crypto exchanges, wallets, decentralized apps
Personal Finance: budgeting, financial planning tools
Dozens of fintech subsectors exist from insurance to compliance and more. But the categories above represent many hot growth areas today.
10 Largest Fintech Companies Worldwide
Now let‘s explore the highest-grossing fintech juggernauts based on their latest annual revenues.
1. Ant Group – Revenue: $33.9 billion
Founded just in 2014, Ant Group emerged from Alibaba to become the world‘s most valuable fintech reaching a peak valuation of $320 billion. Its Alipay app completely transformed payments and investing in China.
Key Stats:
- 1 billion annual Alipay users
- Processes over half of China‘s mobile payments
- Originators of money market fund Tianhong Yu‘e Bao that amassed over $270 billion assets by 2021
Alipay allows peer-to-peer transfers, in-store payments using QR codes, bill payments, micro-investing via Tianhong Yu‘e Bao, lending, wealth management and insurance. This super app and its ubiquitous payment QR codes can pay ambulance bills, school fees, cable bills – you name it.
Ant Group continues marching towards total Chinese financial service domination. Its IPO was set to raise over $34 billion, cementing its status before regulators stepped in and suspended listing plans temporarily.
2. PayPal – Revenue: $25.4 billion
If you‘ve shopped online in the past two decades, chances are you‘ve used PayPal. The payments giant went public after spinning out of Elon Musk‘s X.com in 2002.
Vital Stats:
- Total 2022 Transactions: $1.25 trillion
- Users: 429 million across 200+ markets
- Processed Transactions Per Day: 42 million
Known originally for its instant online checkout button, PayPal now also provides peer-to-peer payments via Venmo (which it acquired for $800 million in 2013), cross-border remittances, buy now pay later financing through PayPal Credit, crypto trading and rewards credit cards.
PayPal remains the preferred online payment method for tens of millions thanks to trust built over decades and continually improved convenience.
3. MercadoLibre – Revenue: $7.1 billion
Dubbed the "Amazon of Latin America", MercadoLibre is a regional ecommerce and fintech powerhouse founded in 1999. Its marketplace hosts over 670 million item listings while its MercadoPago payments wing sees impressive growth.
Must-Know Stats:
- 2021 Total Payment Volume (TPV): $85 billion
- Unique Visitors in 2021: 140 million
- Valuation: $82 billion
Originally just an eBay-like marketplace, MercadoLibre now enables the entire ecommerce value chain from online storefronts to logistics and delivery. Its Mercado Envios shipping service has cut average delivery times down from over 10 days to just 48 hours.
On fintech, MercadoPago payments processing and virtual wallet now compete fiercely with banks. The platform even offers investment funds, lending, cross-border transfers, prepaid cards and insurtech.
4. DoorDash – Revenue: $5.1 billion
DoorDash utterly dominates US restaurant delivery sales with 57% market share. This logistics juggernaut connects 390,000 merchant storefronts like Chipotle, Walgreens and local restaurants with over 25 million global customers as of 2021.
Need-to-Know DoorDash Metrics:
- 2021 Total Orders Delivered: 1 billion
- Dashers (Delivery Drivers): 2 million+
- Super Bowl 56 Orders: Close to 3 million
Offering consumers meal delivery in 10 minutes, DoorDash casts an impressively wide net beyond just restaurants. Their Drive initiative delivers from over 50 major chains including Macy‘s, PetSmart and Office Depot. Acquiring Finnish delivery startup Wolt expanded their European footprint to 700 cities across 23 countries overnight.
DoorDash‘s logistics are optimized for speed by storing merchant inventories in local warehouses called DashMarts. Their wide selection and frictionless ordering keeps hungry consumers coming back.
5. Stripe – Revenue: $2.6 billion
If you‘ve purchased anything online from Lyft rides to Zoom subscriptions chances are your payment was processed by Stripe. The developer-friendly payment infrastructure giant was founded by John and Patrick Collision back in 2010.
Stripe in Numbers:
- 2021 Valuation: $95 billion
- Total Funding Raised: over $2.2 billion
- Corporate Clients: Thousands including Amazon, Salesforce, Lyft
Businesses small and large plug Stripe‘s payment APIs into checkout flows to easily accept credit card, Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions. Additional tools assist with billing, invoicing, preventing fraud and analytics.
Why do 50,000+ businesses use Stripe today? It‘s coding libraries integrate seamlessly with platforms like Shopify. Stripe simplifies complex tasks like storing card information for future transactions. Global reach in 45 countries with built-in currency conversion removes headaches for companies expanding internationally.
6. Chime – Revenue: $1.5 billion
Chime brings frustration-free mobile banking without monthly account fees to over 12 million Americans. Transaction notifications instantly appear on its sleek app.
Why Chime Resonates:
- New account openings daily in 2021: 35,000
- Savings accounts opened 2021: 5 million
- Valuation: $35 billion
For those fed up with overdraft and maintenance fees from legacy banks, Chime offers online checking accounts, Visa debit cards, savings accounts with far above average interest and P2P payments.
Chime‘s automatic savings round up feature effortlessly builds savings. Its Credit Builder Visa helps members establish credit. Such user-friendly, value-centric features explain its current 16% monthly account growth.
7. Coinbase – Revenue: $1.4 billion
The largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase makes buying bitcoin, ethereum and 150+ digital assets easy for over 89 million regular traders. This fintech unicorn went public at an eye-popping $85 billion valuation in 2021.
Critical Coinbase Stats:
- Verified Users: 89 million
- Assets On Platform: Over $278 billion worth of crypto
- Monthly Transacting Users: 11.2 million
For legions of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, Coinbase‘s user-friendly interface helped demystify owning bitcoin and understanding how to store keys securely. Earn programs that pay users crypto for watching videos or taking quizzes extend Coinbase‘s appeal to newcomers.
While Exchange trading fuels most revenue currently, Coinbase is prudently expanding into crypto debit cards, wallets, NFT marketplaces and decentralized finance apps to own more crypto lifecycle entry points.
8. Marqeta – Revenue: $1.3 billion
Underpinning payment innovation from Square to Uber, Marqeta powers card issuing and payment infrastructure for many influential fintechs. Its modern APIs help clients authoriz transaction request flows while managing balances, risk analysis, dispute management and more.
Why Marqeta Wins Big Clients
- Total cards issued: over 160 million
- 2021 IPO at $4.3 billion valuation
- Key Partners: Square, Affirm, DoorDash
Marqeta helps pioneering clients like Square build tailored payment card products tuned to their needs and use cases. The firm‘s tech powers the actual card spending available funds behind fintech mobile wallets.
Instead of having a single giant Marqeta card program, they provide building block services for clients to create specialized experiences. This helps explain their strong market position enabling bold client ambitions.
9. Klarna – Revenue: $1.2 billion
With over 147 million global customers, Klarna makes financing big online purchases easier through interest-free installments. This buy now pay later juggernaut was founded in Stockholm in 2005.
Klarna Scale and Reach
- Valuation: $45.6 billion
- Total Funding Raised: $3.7 billion
- Global Online Merchants Accepting: Over 400,000
For those lacking credit to fund that hot new laptop or sofa online, Klarna splits costs into 4 digestible interest-free payments. Their app‘s savings accounts and price tracking help consumers budget and find deals.
Klarna also empowers in-store payments using card on file or scanning QR codes. Completely transforming rigid checkout norms helps explain Klarna‘s appeal and relentless expansion.
10. Remitly – Revenue: $702 million
Sending money internationally easily via mobile app is what Remitly delivers for over 2.5 million customers across 1,700 currency corridors. Transactions fees are slashed compared to banks and funds arrive quickly.
Remitly Differentiators:
- Money transferred in 2021: $13 billion
- Bank transfer and debit card funding
- Cutting average transfer time to minutes through bank partnerships
For migrant workers supporting families or freelancers getting paid internationally, Remitly eases pain points. Notification confirmations bring peace of mind. Bank-beating FX rates and transfer speed encourages usage for reoccurring needs.
Originally focused mainly on US to India or Mexico corridors, Remitly‘s addition of 17 send countries and receive capabilities across 135+ nations means broader global coverage today.
Market Share Dominance Analysis
When segmenting by core financial sectors, these prominent fintechs command impressive category ownership:
Payments
- Leader: PayPal – 15% total market share
- Runner Up: Stripe – 5%
Investing
- Leader: Ant Group – Over 18% China investment market share
- Runner Up: Coinbase – 13% crypto exchange market share
Lending
- Leader: Ant Group – Issues 35% of China‘s unsecured loans
- Runner Up: Klarna – Now 5% of total ecommerce volume
This data spotlights how top fintechs, once plucky startups, now significantly eat into the market share of stalwarts like banks and credit card networks. Their hungry appetite for monetizing more financial lifecycle touchpoints shows no sign of abating.
5 Predictions for the Future of Fintech
Based on today‘s unstoppable momentum, here are 5 projections for what comes next in financial technology:
- Incumbents accelerate attempts to retain customers with digital transformation
- Challenger neobanks chip further away at old guard territory
- Fintech consolidation and partnerships gather steam
- Blockchain and smart contract adoption disrupts lending, insurance, trade finance
- Creation of truly platform-agnostic global payment rails
Many emerging innovations seem poised to fuel greater access and financial inclusion in developed and developing markets alike.
Why Fintech Wins Hearts, Minds and Wallets
Love them or hate them, fintech juggernauts make sending money abroad, investing on-the-go, funding ecommerce dreams and managing budgets incredibly smooth. Compelling experiences drive their success.
Can big banks, credit card issuers and legacy players catchup technologically and culturally? Not easily. But to stay relevant, they must reinvent product development and truly center fast-moving customer demands.
As this analysis shows, consumer adoption of helpful fintech by the billions speaks for itself. The revenue numbers showcase how hunger for more financial control, flexibility and seamlessness spots fertile terrain forongoing startup disruption.
What emerging companies do you think show promise to reshape finance next using technology? I‘m excited to see what this decade brings for fintech‘s evolution.
