GLOBAL FINTECH RANKINGS 2021: Australia now ranked 6th in the world

• More than 50 new cities and 20 new countries have been added to findexable’s Global Fintech Rankings
• The value of fintech unicorn companies has more than doubled
• The evolution of fintech in a country is highly correlated to financial inclusion in emerging economies
• The 2021 findexable Global Fintech Rankings is produced in partnership with Mambu, the market-leading cloud banking and financial services platform

SYDNEY – 24 June 2021: A new report by findexable shows that 2020 was a year in which the financial technology (‘fintech’) sector expanded globally and financially, building upon a surge in demand for technology that increases access to digital finance. Previous reports showed that this trend was accelerating, but over the period covered by this year’s report diversity among fintech companies exploded, with 50 new cities and 20 new countries added to the index, meaning that they host the headquarters of at least 10 privately-owned fintech companies.

The 2021 Global Fintech Rankings, powered by Mambu, identifies emerging hubs, fintech companies and trends. The Index algorithm ranks the fintech ecosystems of more than 264 cities across 83 countries incorporating data from findexable’s own records and collated and verified by its Global Partnership Network, including Crunchbase, StartupBlink, SEMrush and 60+ fintech associations globally. The index was first published in 2019 and has seen a huge uptake by the fintech industry.  

This year’s Global Fintech Rankings report shows that although major technology and finance centres like London, New York and San Francisco are still global centres of development, the fintech industry is becoming more geographically diverse. Several African countries have debuted on the list, including the Seychelles, Rwanda, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Somalia, and cities like Riyadh and Tel Aviv have moved up the rankings, with the latter joining the top ten cities in the world for fintech growth. 

With more fintech companies being founded in a greater range of locales, from Flutterwave in sub-Saharan Africa to the digital currency launched in the Bahamas, the needs of specific populations are being served by people from those areas. In total, of the 83 countries in the rankings this year more than 20% are new entrants. In short, emerging markets and digitally savvy but underbanked populations continue to be sources of fintech innovation. 

This speaks to one of the report’s larger themes, which is that fintech is bridging gaps in consumers’ lives, many of them revealed or made more urgent by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from Mastercard showed that in the first quarter of 2020 there was a greater shift to digital banking in ten weeks than there had been in the previous five years. Fintech can no longer be dismissed as a fad but is a part of billions of peoples’ lives – ‘fintech for all rather than the few’. However, there is a significant gap between major players and the next generation of innovators in terms of funding that needs to be addressed to keep the industry moving forward with new ideas. There also remains a gap between the customers of fintechs – women are often early adopters, while emerging markets are sources of giant user bases - and the people leading them.

The report also shows that significant investment came into the sector during the year. The number of ‘unicorn’ companies (privately-held start-ups with a valuation of more than $1 billion) has increased dramatically, with multi-billion dollar ‘mega-rounds’ from a handful of companies propelling the total invested in fintech unicorns to $440 billion, up from $199 billion in April 2020. This dramatic increase in investment means that fintech unicorns now account for 20% of total tech unicorn value.

Findexable’s founder and CEO Simon Hardie explains: “The level of investment and activity in the fintech sector is hugely gratifying for those of us who have been championing the industry. It is especially good to see that the pandemic didn’t slow down, and may have in fact accelerated, the adoption of fintech in parts of the world that have previously been underserved.”

He adds: “Just as important as whether the industry is growing is the question of whether the industry as a whole is helping ordinary people solve the problems of financial access, cost and simplicity. A University of Illinois study conducted with last year’s data showed that ‘a country’s level of fintech development is highly related to improvements in financial inclusion in emerging economies.’ We can extrapolate from this that the increase in fintech companies in under-banked regions will lead to greater financial inclusion in those areas.”

Elliott Limb, Mambu’s Chief Customer Officer, comments: “Fintechs are part of a global revolution to make financial services easier, faster and simpler. They are changing the way we save, spend, borrow, and invest money. Whether competing, cooperating or supporting traditional financial institutions, they are reshaping digital services for a real-time, on-demand world.”

He adds: “This is why we are proud to have earned our stripes in this imagination-rich community and stepped up to sponsor the Global Fintech Index. The need to understand where the energy and ideas are being created is a tool that decision makers need. Whether it is an aspiring unicorn, a neobank seeking new markets, a provider that wants to go digital, or a financial institution that wants to act like a fintech, you need a roadmap...a guide to where to begin and where to go. This is why a ranking system is important.”

Kristofer Rogers, Mambu's General Manager ANZ, added: “Australia has solidified its position as a leader in the global FinTech space in this year’s Global Fintech Rankings, moving up another two places to now be ranked at number 6 in the world and number 2 in the Asia Pacific region. Sydney has come in just outside the Top 10 at number 11 in the City rankings, with Melbourne at number 25 and Brisbane breaking into the Top 100 for the first time at number 98. What’s particularly exciting about the past 12 months is that we’re seeing bigger deal sizes and successful exits that are comparable to more celebrated hubs like San Francisco and, closer to home, Singapore. 

"The Australian FinTech space has always enjoyed a lot of support in the past from leaders including our Prime Minister Scott Morrison and, more recently, with Senator Andrew Bragg flying the flag in support of a growing FinTech ecosystem in Australia. But with local venture capital firms and early stage investors now enjoying big returns, things are beginning to get very exciting for Australian entrepreneurs and innovators.

"Australia’s thriving fintech industry has seen some incredible innovations over the past 12 months, with the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in enormously accelerated acceptance and adoption of digital banking technologies across all demographics. It’s an exciting time to be working in the fintech space, and we look forward to further investment and activity in the sector as Australia’s banking and financial services industry continues its digital revolution.”

For the purpose of the Index algorithm, fintech is any business that applies a technologically enabled innovation specifically geared for the provision or distribution of financial services. 

The country and city rankings were calculated from a total score comprised of a combination of three metrics:

• Quantity – Size of fintech ecosystem and supporting structures – number of fintechs, fintech hubs, co-working spaces, accelerators, global influencers and population (countries only)
• Quality – Impact/performance – size and growth of fintechs (e.g. number of unicorns), investment, events, value generation, international collaboration, website ranking
• Environment – ease of doing business, critical mass, regulatory environment – regulatory interventions to improve competitive environment, incentives for start-ups, internet censorship, payment portals, fintech courses.

To learn more and download a copy of the report, visit: https://findexable.com/ 

ENDS

About findexable

A global Index

The Global Fintech Index (GFI) by findexable is the first global, real-time, objective ranking of all cities where there is a fintech cluster. The rankings are determined and updated using our proprietary algorithm. It is digital and real-time. It uses open data & data sharing to create a continuously updated index.

A global mission

The GFI is designed to highlight opportunities and drive transparency across the ecosystem. We are on a mission to help financial institutions, governments and investors understand how innovation is evolving, where to invest, and what it takes to build a thriving fintech ecosystem. findexable.com 

About Mambu

Mambu is the market-leading SaaS cloud banking and financial services platform. Mambu fast-tracks the design and build of nearly any type of financial product for banks, lenders, fintechs, retailers, telcos and more. Our unique composable approach means that independent components, systems and connectors can be configured any way our clients require to meet their customer’s needs. Founded in 2011, Mambu has 500 employees​ and ​180 customers globally including N26, OakNorth, Tandem, ABN AMRO, Bank Islam and Orange Bank. www.mambu.com

Media contacts

AUSTRALIA
Rachel McDougall, Whitehat Agency, Email: rachel@whitehatagency.com.au or Tel +61 (0)401 694 301

UK/EUROPE
Denise Gee, MD Findexable, Email: denise@findexable.com or Tel: +44 (0)779 376 8109