The global fintech industry, with an estimated 12,000 fintechs and counting, has changed the way small businesses can manage their money in all kinds of ways.
A small business in Huddersfield or Cardiff can manage online payments with Stripe, take card payments with iZettle, borrow peer-to-peer via Funding Circle, raise equity via Crowdcube, discount outstanding payments via Market Invoice, manage expenses with Xero, send money abroad via TransferWise, and do much more.
The promise of fintech is so great that $36 billion of venture capital and growth equity has been invested in the sector globally in 2016 alone, representing exponential growth since 2010. Alibaba, PayPal and Amazon have all entered the market for lending to small businesses. There are now two fintech “unicorns” in London, with valuations of more than $1 billion, both serving small businesses.
