Last year, fintech funding in Asia hit a record of more than US$4.52 billion. Asia’s fintech investment is increasing significantly and China is leading in the region. China is the unrivalled giant in e-commerce and among the biggest markets in fintech. Globally, seven of the most successful 50 fintech companies are from China, threatening to outshine the UK as a top hub for digital start-ups. The following are 10 most popular fintech companies in China:
1) Ant Finance services
Ant Financial Services Group was formerly known as Alipay, an Alibaba Group’s affiliate company. It runs the Alipay payment platform that offers online and mobile payments services. Alipay changed its name to Ant Financial Services in 2015. In April, the company raised $4.5bn from mostly state-backed investors.
2) JD internet Finance
JD.com is a leading online Chinese retailer. In 2012, it started offering short-term credit to its suppliers. JD Finance, launched in 2013, now offers products and services in consumer credit, supply chain finance, crowdfunding, digital payment, wealth management and insurance.
3) IDG Capital Partners
IDG Capital Partners was founded in 1993. It was among the first foreign venture capital companies to enter the Chinese market. The company has invested in Wecash, a big data credit assessment platform, Wacai, a finance management service and payment network Ripple.
4) ZhongAn
Founded in 2013 in Shanghai, ZhongAn is a joint venture between Alibaba Group, PingAn Insurance, and Tencent Holdings. It is an internet-based insurance company that uses big data to provide automatic underwriting, precision marketing, auto claims, and risk management services.
5) Qufenqi
Qufenqi is an electronic retailer that was founded in 2014. It provides monthly installment payment solutions to professionals and students in China. Qufenqi primarily provides laptops, smartphones, and other electronics, allowing consumers to select their own down payment options and the duration for making regular monthly installments.
6) Tencent’s WeChat
Founded in 1998, WeChat has grown into one of the largest and most used Internet service in China. It has become one of the biggest fintech players. The company has been providing payments to its users since early 2014.
7) WeCash
Founded in 2014, Wecash is a big data credit assessment platform that offers solutions for technology companies. The company uses machine-learning algorithms to give credit assessments in few minutes. By mining mobile data from about 600 million mobile internet users, the company is able to provide comprehensive credit assessments in a short time.
8) Yirendai
Yirendai is a leading online finance marketplace in China connecting individual borrowers and investors. The Company has facilitated more than RMB 12.0 billion in loans since it was launched in 2012.
9) Lufax
Founded in 2011, Lufax is a Chinese peer-to-peer lender and broker. The company was valued at US$10 billion last year. By February 2015, the company’s number of registered users was over 7 million.
10) Airwallex
Airwallex allows SMEs and sole traders to pay and issue invoices in their selected currency at mid-market foreign exchange rate. The company allows SMEs to get interbank mid-market exchange rates when making cross-border transactions. The platform uses big data analytics, quantitative models, and algorithms to work around market volatility.
