Six African-based FinTech firms have made the list of the CB Insights 250 most promising private firms in the world.
The firms listed include Seychelles-based KuCoin with total funding of $180 million, MFS Africa (South Africa) with total funding of $281million, Nigerian-based Opay (Nigeria) which had total funding of $570 million, Paga (Nigeria) also with total funding of $38 million and TeamApt (Nigeria) with the total funding of $58 million.
The Fintech 250 is CB Insights’ annual list of the 250 most promising private fintech companies in the world.
According to the report, these firms “are shaping the future of B2B and B2C financial services, from payments and banking to investing and insurance.”
On the list, firms that took prominence were those dealing in payments processing & networks, insurance, cryptocurrency, core banking, and infrastructure, as well as retail investing and wealth management.
According to the report, “despite the crypto market downturn this year, startups in the space still account for a significant share of this year’s Fintech 250 list. Data on funding, top investor support, revenue, and business relationships still point to the long-term momentum of these companies. Notable players include crypto exchanges Binance and FTX as well as Web3 infrastructure providers ConsenSys and Fireblocks.”
“Some of this year’s winners are building safer and more efficient ways to send and receive payments. Others are striving to make banking, loans, mobile wallets, and investing products available to historically underserved populations all over the world.
“Using the CB Insights platform, our research team selected these 250 winners from a pool of over 12,500 eligible private companies, including applicants and nominees. They were chosen based on factors including proprietary Mosaic scores, funding, market potential, business relationships, investor profile, news sentiment analysis, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. The research team also reviewed over 2,000 Analyst Briefings submitted by applicants.
Based on the highlights provided by the report, about 64 percent of firms recognized last year retained their rankings.
“Nearly two-thirds (64%) of this year’s cohort are repeat winners: 144 were on last year’s list and 16 have made their way back onto the list after winning in a prior year. That leaves only 90 new winners (36% of the list), the fewest ever since we started the Fintech 250.”
The highlight also observed that the recent market turmoil coupled with rising inflation, struggling tech stocks, and rising interest rates have made it difficult for new firms to rank closely with already existing firms in the market.
“In the past, many winners would exit via IPO or M&A and lose eligibility for the list. Today, fintech leaders are staying private longer, especially amid this year’s market turmoil. This has allowed them to retain their eligibility through multiple list rounds. Additionally, factors such as rising inflation, interest rate hikes, and struggling public tech stocks have made it more difficult for new entrants to make a splash in the already maturing fintech market.” the report read.
