India ranks third with maximum fintech unicorns in 2023

In 2023, India ranked third globally in the number of financial technology (fintech) unicorns, with the United States and the United Kingdom maintaining their positions as the top two countries, according to a report from global research firm Statista.

The United States is home to 134 fintech unicorns and leads in terms of value generation, while the United Kingdom secured the second position with 27 fintech unicorns. India claimed the third spot with 17 fintech unicorns as of 2023.

According to the report, the United States is also the host of the world’s largest fintech companies by market capitalisation. Major fintech players like Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard dominate the global landscape. Among the top 15 highest-valued fintech firms globally, eight are headquartered in the United States.

These eight unicorns, including Visa, with a market capitalisation of US$ 465.13 billion and MasterCard, with US$ 344.57 billion, collectively contribute to a total valuation of US$ 1.2 trillion. Despite hosting only eight unicorns, China took second place, with giants like Tencent (US$ 187.92 billion) and Ant Financial (US$ 151 billion) boosting the country’s overall financial market capitalisation to US$ 338.92 billion.

Silicon Valley, known for its history of producing some of the world’s largest technology companies like Meta, Apple, Google, and Amazon, is a natural hub for the fintech sector. It benefits from a well-established venture capital system with influential players such as Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

In India, notable profitable companies in the fintech sector include Zerodha, a stock brokerage platform, Billdesk, a fintech firm, and Paytm, among others. Fintech giants like Zerodha, Razorpay, Pine Labs, Paytm, Billdesk, and others have also achieved profitability.

Source: Mint