Incumbents vs challengers in cross-border payments

Incumbents vs challengers in cross-border payments

In our mapping, the challengers include the new fintechs and startups that were typically founded in the last 10 years. The incumbents form the rest of the mapping.

10 years serves as a good marker to draw the line between the two groups:

  • The few years after the Great Recession saw hardly any new companies established due to tighter capital markets and little appetite for risk-taking across financial services.
  • Three of the best funded startups in the space, TransferWise, WorldRemit were established in 2010 and Remitly in 2011.
  • Technology, especially mobile was entering a new phase 10 years ago. The first iPhone had just been launched (in 2007) and smartphones usage in the US was only starting to even be tracked (at less than one third of the population, compared to close to three quarters now).

Have we missed anyone? Of course, we track over 14,000 players in the space, making this just one piece of the puzzle.

The map in full

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