The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) has published insights from the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 competition that identifies promising, early-stage fintechs driving financial inclusion and resilience around the globe. Through a competitive process led by an independent panel of 35 judges, applicants were assessed on the degree to which their target market includes underserved people or businesses, their traction, scalability and innovation of their product or service offering.
Zennon Kapron, CEO of Kapronasia and one of the expert judges, said “The future of finance is digital—we’ve known this for years. What is less clear is whether digitalization will mean doing different things or just doing the same things differently—whether it will serve to advance financial health and equity or just serve as a force multiplier for the status quo. The annual Inclusive Fintech 50 is one of the most important platforms for exploring those too seldom asked questions and charting fintech’s progress, fairly and free of hype.”
The 2022 competition, now in its fourth year, attracted over 250 applicants from 66 countries. Eighty-four percent of applicants were either self- or seed/Angel funded, and 87 percent had been operating for less than five years. Applications from women-led fintechs made up 36 percent of the pool, up from 27 percent in the previous year.
Additional key findings include:
- Funding remains concentrated by geography and among fintechs without women in leadership. Sixty percent of funding went to fintechs in only five countries (Colombia, Mexico, United States, India, Nigeria), and fintechs with women in leadership received six times less funding than those with all-men leadership teams.
- Practices around data privacy and consent are inconsistent. While 72 percent of inclusive fintechs request customers’ consent, most of the terms and conditions are delivered in complex legalese and only require a yes/no or agree/disagree check box.
- There is a need for systematic and rigorous efforts to improve outcomes management and measurement. While 69 percent of fintechs report collecting data to measure impact, most of the data is limited to output measures.
- Fintechs with women in leadership are more likely to design for and reach women customers. Twenty-seven percent of the fintechs with women in leadership have a share of women customers higher than 75 percent vs. 9 percent of the fintechs without women in leadership.
If you are interested in learning more about the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 insights, check out this link.
For more enquiries about the Inclusive Fintech Competition or the insights report, contact the team via email to info@inclusivefintech50.com.
This year’s Inclusive Fintech 50 competition is sponsored by Visa, MetLife Foundation, and Jersey Overseas Aid & Comic Relief, with support from Accion and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The competition is managed by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI).
About The Center for Financial Inclusion
The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) works to advance inclusive financial services for the billions of people who currently lack the financial tools needed to improve their lives and prosper. We leverage partnerships to conduct rigorous research and test promising solutions, and then advocate for evidence-based change. CFI was founded by Accion in 2008 to serve as an independent think tank on inclusive finance.
Insights from the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 competition