Largest fintech companies worldwide 2021, by market cap

Fintech companies headquartered in the United States and China lead the ranking of largest fintech companies worldwide by market capitalization. In 2021, the largest two were the payment companies Visa and Mastercard, both headquartered in the United States, with a market capitalization of almost 478 billion and 368 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Chinese Ant Financial, or Ant Group, ranked third with a market capitalization of 312 billion U.S. dollars. European headquartered companies, such as Stripe, Adyen, and Klarna were also among the top fintech companies by market capitalization.

United States: the land of unicorns

The fintech sector is famous for being filled with successful companies that have turned into unicorns. The term unicorn refers to a privately held startup company that has a valuation that exceeds one billion U.S. dollars. The United States did not only have the largest fintech companies, but also the highest number of fintech unicorns. In addition, five out of the ten most valuable fintech unicorns were headquartered in the United States.

Do people trust fintech companies?

Fintech companies offer financial services similar to those offered by banks or wealth managers. However, this new way of providing financial services is not equally trusted by everyone. A recent survey conducted in the United States, for instance, showed that trust in fintech companies compared to banks varies based on age group: People aged between 18 and 24 appeared to be more likely to trust fintech companies, while people aged 65+ trust banks more.