Fintech startup ideas for you to explore

In the current tech climate, fintech solutions don’t need much of an introduction - anyone knows them, and almost everyone uses one. With startups emerging every year, striving to solve some existing problem or issue, many businesses want in on it. Yet to create a truly helpful fintech product, you have to follow trends that will give you a clearer picture of what the market needs at the moment. Here are the top cool fintech startup ideas of 2022 from a fintech design agency that knows what will still be in demand years from now.

What is currently going on in fintech?

Before we delve into new fintech startup ideas, let’s quickly see what is going on in the fintech industry at the moment, numbers-wise. The entire financial technology sector in 2022 is worth around $180 billion, as stated by Deloitte, and it may even reach $213 billion by 2024. Fintech itself is embedded in crisis management, as its first real growth happened after a major financial crisis.

Now, we’re at our second wave of fintech that continues disrupting the traditional financial sector after yet another global crisis in the form of the Covid pandemic. Financial institutions keep on evolving, and consumer behavior has already changed to the point where old norms and practices just don’t cut it anymore. The most prevalent change was the rise of digital payments, now holding around 25% of the fintech market.

Unsurprisingly, fintech startups are the new black. According to BCG’s research, in 2021, the overall number of startups operating within the financial technology market was close to over 26,000 worldwide, which is more than double the number from just two years earlier, in 2019, which was 12,000. The investment in the sector has also skyrocketed, reaching almost $210 billion at the end of 2021.

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Best fintech startup ideas, 2022 edition

So, to be considered a fintech startup, a company has to operate in the financial sector and rely on a variety of contemporary technology to meet the needs of its clients. A startup part of it means that the business focuses on innovation and replacing traditional financial practices.

Such companies usually take concepts that are in no way new to modern people, such as banking, and try to offer more effective solutions. Take fintech AI startups, for example, and their use of artificial intelligence to improve financial services.

But enough with the small talk. Here are the best fintech startup ideas of the current year that will be profitable for many more years to come. Choose the one that speaks to you.

Digital banking

One of the top fintech ideas today is digital banking, offering the best alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar banking institutions, where long queues and your physical attendance are unavoidable. Even though the idea is not new, cue various products like Current, Revolut, Chime, etc., the market is still open for new tools, provided they are useful and offer something that others don’t.

Personal finance management

A different type of financial management comes in the form of money-saving fintech products. Apps like Mint, Ibotta, and BillTracker help people better manage their personal finances. They can track and analyze your spending habits, give you advice on how to plan and calculate a monthly, weekly, or even yearly budget, and actually guide you through it. If you want to create a personal financial helper, go either a habit tracking or budget planning route.

Investment applications

Another one of the popular fintech projects ideas is creating an investment tool. Investments may sound like something out of rich people’s lingo, but more and more people nowadays are trying it out to earn passive income. Investment applications such as Robinhood, Betterment, Wealthfront, and Invstr allow customers to invest in stock or other platforms, even if it’s just a micro-investment, while also providing guidance and analytics.

Online P2P payment apps

Peer-to-peer payment tools take up a special place among startup fintechs. As a subset of digital banking, digital payment tools are focused more on money exchange between regular customers and businesses rather than managing savings and checking accounts. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and suchlike tools are widely recognizable, and nearly everyone who has a smartphone uses one.

Digital insurance products

Yet another one of the top-notch fintech company ideas is building digital insurance products like Esurance, Metromile, Zego, Wrisk, etc. So-called Insurtechs are basically digital products that help people apply for various kinds of insurance, from cars and homes to personal insurance, on more beneficial terms, such as better features, fairer coverage, cheaper pricing models, and more personalization options.

Crypto exchange tools

And last but not least, as one of the best fintech innovation examples, crypto exchange solutions are one of the most modern directions you can follow today. Crypto still remains a buzzword, and most people not in the financial industry or tech sector hardly understand the fuss about it. Platforms like Binance, bitFlyer, Coinbase, and Bitfinez are actively trying to minimize the gap between crypto and the common folk, and if you want, you can do it too.

Examples of fintech startups

Now let’s move on to some brief examples of fintech startups currently dominating our modernized financial sector.

Revolut. Founded in London in 2015, Revolut claims to be an application able to manage all your money matters - from currency exchanges and digital wallets to even crypto trading.

Robinhood. This California-based startup is an easy-to-use investment and stock trading application with zero commissions, making investing more accessible to beginner traders.

M1 Finance. Established in Chicago seven years ago, M1 Finance is a money-management app with the main focus on exchange-traded fund and stock portfolio investments.

Bluesheets. Founded in Singapore in 2020, Bluesheets is a bookkeeping platform helping to automate financial data across multiple platforms with artificial intelligence.

Chime. Another Californian on our list, Chime, is a digital bank or neobank offering customers numerous mobile banking services and solutions for little to no fees.

Klarna. A Swedish startup created back in 2005, Klarna elevates online shopping experiences by offering a handy eCommerce payment solution for both sellers and buyers.

Fintech startup opportunities for you

If you want your business to end up among the cool fintech startups that have, in a good way, disrupted the whole financial industry with innovative solutions, and you already have some semblance of an idea of what kind of product you would like, don’t hesitate to take your concept to Merge. Years of fintech design and development experience allow us to make refined and easy-to-use products your audience will appreciate.