The slow evolution of housing construction competes with the comparatively slow progress in the financing portion of homebuying, along with the technologies associated with raising capital. Many companies are starting to innovate and bring solutions to other industries that in time will benefit housing, like several of these explored below.
In the past decade, banking and money have changed from being centralized and controlling behemoths to institutions that are being continually disrupted by startups from all over the world.
It all (probably) started in Africa in 2008 when Kenya’s ‘unbanked’ were offered a mobile money service called M-Pesa that revolutionised that country’s banking system and led the way for the rest of the world to follow.
The likes of (the aforesaid) M-Pesa, PayPal, TransferWise, Alipay, Paytm, Square, iZettle, Curve, Stripe, Klarna, Funding Circle and WeChat have now changed forever every element of finance.
Other companies such as Monzo, Starling, N26, Revolut, Funderbeam, Venmo, Tide, Colu, Affirm, Twino, Qudian, Kabbage, Lemonade, ePayments, Monese, Robinhood and Coinbase have created their own systems and are also heading for glory.
Then there are the wannabes. Startups such as Flux, KERV, myKRing, Zego, Cobalt, Trov, Mines, Aire, Bankex, Futri, Meniga, Mintos, Ayden, PensionBee and Avaloq are all making significant waves.
But, what of the real innovation, the B2B products and ideas that are changing business behaviour, providing services that are fundamentally awesome and truly ground-breaking.
Like any list, decisions such as these are all subjective and many will disagree, but if this list is not definitive, it certainly shows off excellent products and fantastic ideas that deserve to be in any FinTech pantheon.
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