It is a great pleasure for me to introduce CFTE's first research report "Fintech 50: 5 Years in Fintech". Our mission at CFTE is to help organisations and people transform themselves at a time when technology is quickly reshaping financial services. Some organisations will leverage technology and thrive. Others will not be able to adapt, and fall behind. The same will apply to people. But we hope that with the right knowledge, mindset and network, many will make the most of today's opportunities in finance. This report will hopefully help towards this goal, and give readers an understanding of how Fintech has evolved during the last 5 years - and give them some hints on how Fintech will further develop in the future. For the tens of thousands of CFTE participants around the world, you will notice that many of the concepts discussed in the courses can explain the developments mentioned in this report. Although the future is hard to predict, there are definitely some important trends that will continue to shape financial services. For me, if there was only one to mention, that would be the democratisation of financial services through technology, and that makes me very hopeful about the next 5 years in Fintech. Enjoy reading the report, and hope to see you join the CFTE community around the world. Tram Anh Nguyen, Co-founder, CFTE The Selection Process .................................................................................................................................... 4 Sectors ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Funding .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Geography ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Wealthfront ............................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Kabbage ................................................................................................................................................... 13 3. Motif Investing ........................................................................................................................................ 15 4. Klarna ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 5. Square ...................................................................................................................................................... 19 6. Lending Club ............................................................................................................................................ 21 7. OnDeck .................................................................................................................................................... 23 8. Borro ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 9. Kreditech ................................................................................................................................................. 27 10. Xero ....................................................................................................................................................... 29 11. Robinhood ............................................................................................................................................. 31 12. Funding Circle ........................................................................................................................................ 33 13. Stripe ..................................................................................................................................................... 35 14. Yodlee .................................................................................................................................................... 38 15. Prosper .................................................................................................................................................. 40 16. Wonga ................................................................................................................................................... 42 17. Coinbase ................................................................................................................................................ 44 18. Credit Karma .......................................................................................................................................... 46 19. LearnVest ............................................................................................................................................... 48 20. Personal Capital ..................................................................................................................................... 50 21. BitPay ..................................................................................................................................................... 52 22. OurCrowd .............................................................................................................................................. 54 23. CircleUp ................................................................................................................................................. 56 24. PayNearMe ............................................................................................................................................ 58 25. SecureKey .............................................................................................................................................. 60 26. Nutmeg .................................................................................................................................................. 62 27. TransferWise ......................................................................................................................................... 64 28. Betterment ............................................................................................................................................ 66 29. SocietyOne ............................................................................................................................................. 68 30. eToro ..................................................................................................................................................... 70 31. SumUp ................................................................................................................................................... 72 32. Wecash .................................................................................................................................................. 74 33. Zopa ....................................................................................................................................................... 76 34. Nimble ................................................................................................................................................... 78 35. AngelList ................................................................................................................................................ 80 36. Receivables Exchange/ LiquidX ............................................................................................................. 82 37. FutureAdvisor ........................................................................................................................................ 84 38. Dwolla .................................................................................................................................................... 86 39. Metamako ............................................................................................................................................. 88 40. RateSetter .............................................................................................................................................. 90 41. Kickstarter .............................................................................................................................................. 92 42. GoCardless ............................................................................................................................................. 94 43. Calastone ............................................................................................................................................... 96 44. SigFig ...................................................................................................................................................... 98 45. Stockspot ............................................................................................................................................. 100 46. Crowdcube ........................................................................................................................................... 102 47. Seedrs .................................................................................................................................................. 104 48. M-Pesa ................................................................................................................................................