The future of Fintechs

Abstract

In 2019, $35bn were invested in Fintechs globally. Fintechs are startups that are revolutionizing financial services with breakthrough technologies, new business models and innovative products and services. Today, traditional banks and insurance companies face a new competition. However, if Fintechs sure are trending, their future starts to raise questions. The Covid-19 crisis showed the difficulties startups are facing to remain alive without fundraisings.This study aims to understand what the future holds for Fintechs. On a global scale, investments in Fintechs fell at first but a rebound seems to appear in North America and Europe. Some startups actually benefit from the faster digitalization of the society. Moreover, innovations such as Big Data, Open Banking or Blockchain are driving the financial transformation. However, weaknesses of the model were put into light. Without fundraisings, Fintechs only have three possible outcomes: being profitable, acquired or listed on a stock market. However, as the M&A and IPO landscapes are not mature yet in Europe, being profitable should often be the number one goal.Some limitations that might arise are related to the fact that it is still very early to give conclusions on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. Moreover, the study could have analyzed weaknesses and strengths for each Fintech sub-categories to show that Fintechs can have different futures regarding their specificities.

Date of Award	28 Jan 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)