What is Google doing in the financial technology market?

As financial technologies spread to new industries, information technology companies are beginning to realize that now it’s time for them to enter the game in order to fully enjoy the benefits of innovation and remain competitive. Of course, technology companies are directly interested in fintech-development, allowing them to significantly reduce costs and optimize operations. And if the entry into the game of traditional players in the financial industry is quite expected, the big technology companies, on the contrary, do not seek to advertise their "intrigues" in the fintech market.

We already know about one dark horse on the market - Microsoft - and a wide range of its FINTECH initiatives, as well as significant company advancement in working with the blockchain. But there is another good example - Google, although it is not as active in the blockchain sphere. For us at Wirex , a Fintech startup providing payment and remittance services without banking intermediation, the list of companies invested by Google in this article seems to be very interesting and worthy of attention. So welcome under cat. The post was prepared on the basis of LTP materials. After reading it, you will see that very soon the banks may face open and tough competition from many other players.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Google and fintech is Android Pay. However, today we will focus on Google’s venture capital investment in financial technology, which the company implements using Google Ventures , which has already received the status of one of the “coolest” fintech investors in the United States.

Google Ventures is the investment division of Google, through which the company searches for startups from many different industries to invest in them. Google Ventures recently went through a rebranding, changing its name to GV and turning its color, made in the visual style of the parent company logo on a modern black and white. As a rule, Android Pay is the only Google fintech initiative that we hear about, but the GV already today has an interesting and deserving closer examination of the investment portfolio.
')


In total, GV has invested in 245 venture capital firms. Most of them (43%) are consumer services companies. They are followed by corporate solutions, which occupy 29% of the portfolio. But the most interesting are investments in fintech startups. Venture businesses operating in the financial technology market account for about 13% of the total amount of invested funds distributed unevenly across different segments of the FINTECH market.



GV Portfolio contains a number of interesting FINTECH startups working on authentication tools, security, API for banking services, cryptocurrency, lending, payment technologies and other areas. Healthcare technologies are represented by several interesting startups, including Oscar . As for the blockchain technology, then the venture company cannot be called generous in this relationship: the GV portfolio is represented by only one company working with the sensational technology - Ripple Labs. Lending and payment technologies, by contrast, are represented by quite a large number of companies.



25% of fintech portfolio is occupied by “Others” - single companies working on authentication technologies, blockchain, digital currencies and other areas. It is curious that analytical companies are most in demand with GV investment partners. Start-up groups that specialize in providing security and personal savings tools (shopping, budget management, control over personal finances) have 13% each.

And now let's take a closer look at some of the fintech companies that GV works with.

Corduro offers a wide range of payment services for online transactions, mobile and traditional retail operations.

Rally is a social fundraising tool that allows you to create your own Internet project and gather an online community around it.

Ripple Labs is a company working to reduce the cost of all types of payments. Ripple develops its own open payment protocol called the Ripple protocol, which allows you to conduct instant free transactions around the globe in any currency, including US dollars, yen, euro, digital currencies and even loyalty program bonuses.

Plaid - is a modern API for processing bank data, allowing developers to interact with bank accounts and credit cards at the program level.

Robinhood - with its help, users can observe the mood of investors, draw useful conclusions from collective wisdom and independently participate in trading on stock markets.

Gusto - offers a completely new approach to payroll, additional payments, personnel management and personal finance through automation and simplification of business tasks.

OnDeck - uses modern technology to make the process of obtaining loans easier, faster and more transparent for business owners in the USA and Canada.

Puddle is a crowdfunding online platform that creates a new lending channel, where anyone can get a collective loan from other participants.

ThinkNear - we offer local sellers a service to increase profitability with the help of a special revenue management solution. The product does not require any electronic devices and runs in the background, and its installation takes less than five minutes. In the course of work, he learns to choose the best discounts and channels that will help the seller to attract more customers.

LedgerX - filed an application for registration (and is awaiting approval by the regulator) as a swap exchange and a clearing organization working with derivatives. The startup intends to quote option contracts for digital currencies.

Kensho - offers professionals in the field of finance and economics special software for market research.

LendUp - is an improved version of the loans "to paycheck." LendUp purposefully issues loans only online or through mobile devices, offering a convenient, fast and easy alternative to traditional microcredit.

Upstart is an online lending platform that determines the borrower's solvency on the basis of not only a credit rating, but also indicators such as attending educational institutions, academic performance, work specialization, and employment history. The internal solvency assessment system determines the most high-quality borrowers despite their limited credit rating or limited work experience.

Shape Security - works on new types of web security products, rethinking the economic factors of cybersecurity.

Jet is an online consumer club that allows its customers to access the lowest prices in the network of retail partners by working to find the optimal combination of different retail chains based on the contents of the order.

Duo Security is a proven provider of a full range of two-factor authentication solutions.

Digit - offers automation services for saving personal funds, analyzing the nature of the user's expenses and sending a small amount to his savings account every week.

InVenture - helps people from developing countries who do not have access to formal financial identification get access to loan capital and analytical tools for doing business using mobile and Internet technologies.

Abacus - provides an easy way to manage your business expenses. Managers are able to save money by improving cost control, and employees are compensated for travel and other work expenses as soon as possible.

PayRange is a simple mobile payment system for automated devices of any type, including vending machines, parking machines, electronic kiosks, laundry machines and other machines.

ThreatStream is an analytical platform that uses data processing and analysis techniques to protect organizations from cyber attacks.

Some startups in the GV portfolio were bought, others carried out an IPO, which testifies to the professionalism and ability of the venture capital company to make wise investments. Judging by the structure of the fintech portfolio, GV has a great interest in payment and credit start-ups, as well as developers of analytical tools. Nevertheless, the GV CEO encourages diversity:

I asked our team to ignore the precedents and the pressure they experience in the course of their work. Our goal was simply to find the best ways to help companies succeed.

See you in the blog Wirex. Do not forget that now you can order our multi-currency card.