Truffle Capital and the Finance Innovation global competitiveness cluster have just published a ranking, produced in partnership with Groupe BPCE, Sopra Steria and Sopra Banking Software, whose ambition is to better understand the performance and dynamism of the FinTech and InsurTech sector. French, as well as the challenges it faces for the years to come. To do this, these players relied on five criteria – fundraising, turnover, growth, workforce and capital efficiency – as well as more than a hundred interviews conducted with this ecosystem.
Big performances in 2021
The least we can say is that the sector is doing well. Last year, FinTechs and InsurTechs managed to raise 2.5 billion euros, thus establishing themselves as the leading sector for innovation capital. They have not only succeeded in attracting investors but also customers. Their cumulative turnover exceeds one billion euros, which corresponds to a growth of 102% in weighted turnover, compared to 2020.
The study shows that 52% of startups believe they have benefited from the pandemic compared to 19% who note a negative effect. The majority of them (86%) experienced growth in 2021, above 50% in almost half of the cases (46%). They are quite confident about the results for 2022: 55% of them are targeting growth of more than 50%.
R&D, driving competitiveness
Although the 100 companies selected are different, they nevertheless have points in common. A quarter of them offer financial services to businesses, 19% insurance solutions and 14% payment services. Services particularly in demand since the pandemic, which has highlighted the need to facilitate remote exchanges and to simplify transactions and the day-to-day management of accounts for companies as much as possible. Very few companies have embarked on the thorny development of a neobank.
These choices explain why the 100 FinTechs are mainly aimed (63%) at a B2B market.
59% of them have an approval or authorization to carry out their activity and, among those who do not have one, 35% plan to obtain one. To develop their solution, 86% of startups had to establish partnerships with banks, startups and large groups.
The solutions and offers of these 100 nuggets are mainly based on artificial intelligence technologies (38%), software (38%) and analytical data management (37%). This explains why 50% of their workforce are tech profiles. To remain competitive against growing competition, they all rely on R&D by devoting, on average, 29% of their turnover to this brick.
Companies that export
They also stand out for two other points: their internationalization and their recruitment policies. FinTechs are rapidly seeking to expand beyond French borders. Many of them have offices abroad, mainly in the Iberian Peninsula (23%), Western Europe (20%), Benelux (19%) and North America (14 %). Northern Europe, Africa and China are of less interest to these FinTechs where they have very little presence. They are also active on issues of diversity (52%), training (45%) and employment of women (36%).
