Fintech was in the dumps for a while now, and with companies like Brex cutting staff again as they try to rein in Court feesyou’d be forgiven for assuming that buying fintech products is struggling.
Actually, not exactly.
Brex may not have had a good couple of quarters, but there is enough positive news from the world of fintech to offset all the negativity in the industry. Bilt Rewards’ massive new round is a good example of the other side of the coin: The rewards-focused startup just raised nine figures at a significantly higher unicorn valuation.
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Elsewhere, BNPL giant Klarna is busy revamping its tools for more profits and continued growth. So yes, while there’s been a sharp dearth of fintech companies going public recently, capital is flowing into the industry because venture capitalists are still cautiously optimistic about it.
So, which startups are drawing the most praise from investors? We can answer this question relatively easily today thanks to a new list compiled by GGV US This highlights 50 fintech startups that venture capitalists think are hot stuff. We also spoke to GGV CEO Hans Tung about what he sees in the sector today.
We’ll delve into the sub-sectors shortly, but if you want to go further: lending, treasury management and the CFO stack are pieces of the fintech puzzle worth investigating.
The problem with (2021) fintech
Before we dig into the good news, let’s talk about narratives. Why does fintech seem stuck in first gear today? A lot of current stress probably stems from a number generally strong startups that raised too much at too high valuations several years ago. These massive fund raisings have often led to oversubscription and share prices that are out of line with today’s norms.
