CNBC recently released its list of the world’s top 200 fintech companies with two Nigerian fintech startups, Opay and Kuda, making debut appearances.
CNBC’s Top 200 is a comprehensive list of companies building innovative, tech-enabled and finance-related products and services that cuts across the globe and through a diverse range of finance applications .
To compile this list, CNBC partnered with independent market research firm, Statista.
The process started in March 2023 when CNBC made a public call for nominations. This gave eligible fintech companies the chance to share more information on their business model, revenue, transaction volumes, and other key data.
Over 1,500 firms across nine different market segments were evaluated and over 10,000 data points were assessed, including annual reports, company websites, and news articles.
The key performance indicators used include revenue, user numbers, and total funding raised.
Statista developed a scoring model that was broken down into a 40% weighting for general KPIs, and 60% for segment-specific KPIs.
Between five and 40 companies were selected for each individual market segment and the companies with the highest score within their market segment made the list.
The nine market segments are; Neobanking, Digital payments, Digital assets, Digital financial planning, Digital wealth management, Alternate financing, Alternate lending, Digital banking solutions and Digital business solutions.
Kuda made its debut appearance in the Neobanking category.
Neobanks are companies, typically with their own bank license, that have been set up with the aim of challenging large established lenders.
Kuda was founded in 2019, allowing users to manage their finances, make payments, save money, and perform various banking activities through a mobile app.
With over six million customers within Nigeria, Kuda has earned a status as the seventh most valuable bank within Nigeria’s financial system.
Opay made its debut on the list in the Digital Payment Category, one of the largest and most competitive segments of fintech.
Opay is a Nigerian one-stop mobile-based platform for payments, transfers, loans, savings, and other essential services. The startup was founded in 2018, and currently boasts over 35 million registered app users and 500,000 agents in Nigeria.
