If you look at the big
And it makes sense. With close proximity to traditional financial institutions like banks, insurance firms and investors, there are plenty of opportunities for
However, San Francisco turned this concept upside down and did it the other way around. The city is a technology centre first (thanks to its famous tech district,
As a result, some of the world’s biggest
With financial technology flourishing in San Francisco, it’s no surprise then that it attracts a lot of young talent, eager to make a difference. There are around 74,000 people working in the
Intuit, a provider of business and financial management solutions, employs 2,378 individuals in the Sa Francisco Bay area alone.
Apart from being an iconic city, some of San Francisco’s other attractive qualities include a warm climate with leafy suburbs and a vibrant social scene with enough entertainment to keep you busy for a long time.
San Francisco also has a relatively young working demographic with good salary expectations. The average age of an employee working in
As an added cherry on the cake, many of the startups also offer carpools (in the form of coaches), to ferry employees back and forth between their homes and the office.
Attracting new talent is important as it’s a foundational block of
However, a talented workforce is not always enough. Fintech innovation also needs investment. It’s what gives startups the resources they need to develop and launch new products.
When it comes to attracting investment, San Francisco as a whole can boast about being the number one region in the world. More than half of global investments go to the US and a large portion of this is thanks to Silicon Valley. It attracted $13 billion in 2015 with $1.4 billion going to the
And because San Francisco has this rich history with investment, it means that new
Attracting $1 billion in investment in 2015,
Credit Karma offers free credit scores and insights and has raised more than $360 million in equity funding. In 2016, the company was valued at $3.5 billion.
These are just a couple of examples but it is clear that San Francisco is not short on
And although Silicon Valley is renowned for its innovation in multiple sectors, there are a number of specialist areas in which it stands out. These include the lending, payments and investment sectors.
As we already mentioned,
Lending Club fills the gap between lending and investing. It’s the world’s largest marketplace for connecting investors with borrowers. Starting out as a Facebook app, it grew into a massive online credit marketplace, reaching $11 billion in loans through its platform in 2015.
Another innovative investing platform is Robinhood. It encourages newbie investors to take the plunge by offering $0 trades. The startup has raised $66 million in funding with big name backers including Index Ventures and Google Ventures.
When it comes to payments, San Francisco’s pedigree is just as strong. Apart from Stripe, another successful startup operating in the payments sphere is Square. The company is valued at over $3 billion and enable retailers to accept payments through mobile devices, with extended services including marketing and even inventory tracking.
Bill.com is a B2B payment solution that helps businesses to pay, and get paid, quickly. In addition, it can support cash flow and budget functions by automating accounts payable and accounts receivable processes. Transactions processed through the platform hit $19 billion annually.
Finally, no global
San Francisco is no different, with a number of these programs backing its
The Plug And Play
YCombinator is a seed funding platform that supports
San Francisco plays in the major leagues when it comes to global