10 Entrepreneurs Making Waves In The Fintech Industry

The fintech sector has seen massive growth over the past few years, powered by some of the world’s greatest business minds.

The global fintech market is projected to be worth over $340 billion in 2024, with plenty of room for growth.

Here, we look at 10 entrepreneurs that have been behind some of the fintech industry’s biggest startups. Let’s take a look.

 

1. Daniel Klein

 

Daniel Klein - SumUp

 

Daniel Klein is the CEO and co-founder of SumUp, a fintech company that provides payment solutions to small businesses.

Under his leadership, SumUp has grown to serve over 3.5 million merchants in 30 countries across the globe.

Klein vision to make payments more easy for small businesses has made the company a key player in the point-of-sale space worldwide.

 

2. Anne Boden, MBE

 

 

Anne Boden is the founder and CEO of Starling Bank, a UK-based online bank. Anne is the first woman to found a British bank, which led her to receive an MBE.

Having worked in banking herself, Boden set out to make banking more customer-centric. Under her leadership, Starling has grown into a huge player in the UK banking space, attracting top investors and being used by millions nationwide.

 

3. Kristo Käärmann

 

Kristo Käärmann - Wise

Kristo Käärmann is the co-founder and CEO of Wise (formerly known as TransferWise), one of the biggest startups in the foreign exchange space.

Along with co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, Käärmann founded Wise to make international money transfers easier and more affordable.

Today, Wise serves millions of customers worldwide and has an estimated valuation of $3.5 billion.

 

4. Eva Wong

 

Anyone Can Be an Entrepreneur': Borrowell's Eva Wong On Making It

 

Eva is the Co-Founder and COO at Borrowell, a startup that helps people feel more confident about their finances by allowing them to view their credit score and get personal loans and product information.

Under Eva’s leadership, the company now boasts 160 employees and is one of Canada’s largest fintech companies.

 

 

5. Louise Hill

 

Louise Hill - GoHenry | LinkedIn

 

Louise Hill is the co-founder and COO of GoHenry, a money management app for kids aged 6-18.

With a background in e-commerce, Hill was inspired to create GoHenry to teach children financial responsibility from a young age but still allow parents to retain an element of control.

The platform has grown in popularity across the UK and the US, making it a key player in the fintech space.

6. Arik Shtilman

 

Arik Shtilman (@ashtilman) / X

 

Arik Shtilman is the co-founder and CEO of Rapyd, a global FinTech-as-a-Service platform that makes payment easier for businesses.

Shtilman launched Rapyd after he realised that companies needed an easier way to manage international payments,. Now, Shtilman, alongside his 2 other co-founders built the company into a hundred-million dollar enterprise.

 

7. Giles Andrews, OBE

 

Giles Andrews (@zopagiles) / X

 

Giles Andrews is the co-founder of Zopa, one of the world’s first peer-to-peer lending platforms.

Since its inception, Zopa has expanded to be a full-service online bank, switching to focus on this area of the business and closing down its lending offering back in 2021.

Alongside his role at Zopa, he also sits as a chairman at Bethnal Green Ventures, where he helps scale-up startups.

 

8. Arjan Verbeek​​

 

Meet Arjan Verbeek, Founder & CEO | Perenna

 

Arjan Verbeek​​ is the founder and CEO of Perenna, a company that offers a 30 year fixed mortgage with no age limit, allowing more people to become homeowners.

On a mission to fix the housing market, Verbeek has been incredibly vocal about interest rates and house prices, encouraging more to be done to help buyers.

After raising over £42 million in their latest round, Perenna is disrupting the mortgage sector one home owner at a time.

 

9. Ishmail Ahmed

 

Ismail Ahmed (businessman) - Wikipedia

 

Ismail Ahmed is the founder of Zepz,  a company that helps people send money to over 130 countries on the go.

Initially founded as WorldRemit, Ismail, a migrant from Somaliland, has helped millions send money abroad.

Now, the company boasts over 11 million users worldwide and has an estimated valuation of $5 billion.

 

10. Nikolay Storonsky

 

Nik Storonsky (@NStoronsky) / X

 

Nikolay Storonsky is the co-founder and CEO of fintech Revolut.

Revolut is a neobank that offers foreign exchange, debit, credit and virtual cards as well as personal loans.

Under Nikolay’s leadership, the company has grown to become a billion dollar enterprise with a valuation larger than some of the UK’s biggest banks.