By Mark DeAbreu

 

In the past few years, Israel’s Financial Technology (FinTech) sector has been growing into a Global Hub. Despite the pandemic, Israeli startups in 2019 were able to raise over $1.8 billion and in 2020 they were able to raise $1.48 billion. In the first quarter of 2021, Israeli fintech startups raised $1.1 billion.

This rapid growth of fintech over the last few years has contributed to advanced AI-based technologies, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and a more innovative and adaptive approach among financial institutions to build partnerships with fintech. The pandemic pushed fintech to become essential for business survival, acting as the main contributor to the rapid migration to digital payments, as the need to work remotely grew.

Israel is home to dozens of fintech unicorns (a company defined as having a value of upwards of $1 billion) in sectors such as payments, insurance technology, lending, banking, and more. The founders of these fintech startups have brought an incredible perspective and understanding of where the gaps within their respective verticals. What is more compelling is that many of these Israeli founders did not grow within financial services. In some cases, founders hired or partnered with industry experts and advisers during the ideation phase, strengthening their knowledge, then built an innovative and customer-focused solution.

 

With that in mind, what makes Israeli fintech different from other ecosystems is the strong technological barriers and infrastructure built from the ground up, which allows it to be more customized, compliant, secured, etc.

 

Israel’s fintech industry is transitioning to a mature ecosystem that already has some top-rated startups. Below is a list of Israeli startups that are respected within their vertical:

  • Property and Casualty Insurance:
    • Hippo: is a property insurance company offering homeowner’s insurance that covers the homes and possessions of the insurance holder as well as liability from accidents happening on the insured property. They use AI and big data to aggregate and analyze property information.
    • Lemonade: Insurance Company is a licensed insurance carrier, offering homeowners and renters’ insurance powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. By replacing brokers and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, Lemonade seeks to eliminate paperwork and provide instant information. Lemonade is a certified B-Corp, where underwriting profits are donated to nonprofit organizations.
  • Business-to-Business Payments
    • Rapyd: is focused on helping businesses create great local commerce experiences anywhere. The company develops technology designed to remove the back-end complexities of cross-border commerce while providing local payment expertise. Global eCommerce companies, technology firms, marketplaces, and financial institutions use Rapyds FinTech-as-a-service platforms to seamlessly embed localized FinTech and payment capabilities into their applications. Rapyd is also the developer of the Rapyd Global Payments Network, which enables businesses to access the world’s largest local payment network, with over 900 locally preferred payment methods, including bank transfers, eWallets, and cash in more than 100 countries.
    • Melio: is on a mission to keep small businesses in business by providing a smart B2B payment solution tailor-made for their needs. Melio’s digital accounts payable and receivable dashboard provides a single, integrated tool that allows small businesses to transfer and receive payments quickly and easily, giving oversight and control over cash flow, eliminating late payment costs, and saving time.
  • Banking Data and Analytics
    • Earnix: provides mission-critical systems for global insurers and banks. Through Earnix, customers can provide prices and personalized products that are smart, fast, safe, and in full alignment with corporate business goals and objectives. Earnix’s customers deliver over 1 billion quotes per year through Earnix’s solutions, offering systemized, enterprise-wide value with ultra-fast return on investment. Earnix has been innovating for insurers and banks since 2001 with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Israel.
    • Personetics: is a global leader in data-driven personalization and customer engagement for financial services. The company’s AI-powered technology is focused on proactive engagement, including analyzing financial data in real-time and understanding individuals’ financial behavior, anticipating their needs, and acting on their behalf. Personetics provides day-to-day insights, financial advice, and automated wellness programs tailored to mass-market, affluent, and small-business customers. The company’s tools enable banks to rapidly create personalization IP for market differentiation and deliver significant business impact (e.g. sales, balances, retention). Led by a team of seasoned FinTech entrepreneurs with a proven track record, Personetics has been named a Gartner Cool Vendor, a Top Ten FinTech Company by KPMG, and a Top Ten Company to Watch by American Banker. Personetics is currently working with more than 80 banks in 30 markets.

 

Write to Mark DeAbreu, Operations and Business Development Associate, West Coast Office, at Mark.Deabreu@israeltrade.gov.il