Fin-what? 89% Have Never Heard of “Fintech”

(May 30, 2017) It may be the next undiscovered force in Venture Capital but the ‘Fintech’ industry isn’t known to 89% of trades and service providers.

The data comes from a recent study by Find-a-Tradie site ServiceSeeking.com.au, and indicates that “Fintech”, despite all its hype, lacks awareness in the broader business community.

Fintech refers to Financial Technological start-ups anticipating they can disrupt established players, from banks to payment firms.

Low brand awareness is alarming for the Fintech industry, which appears to have made little impact on the way small businesses process payments, do their finances and interact online.

Moving small businesses entirely online and away from cash is proving to be a great challenge for Fintech. Trades and service providers just aren’t jumping on board with the trend, preferring to use tried and tested cash-in-hand payments.

“Fintech has a long way to go to achieve widespread adoption, and the banks seem fairly well entrenched across the spectrum of financial products,” says ServiceSeeking.com.au CEO Jeremy Levitt. “An overwhelming majority of these SMEs have never even heard of the industry.”

These numbers suggest that Fintech has been spending more time creating products than marketing them.

“It seems that there’s nothing less relevant to SMEs than Fintech,” says Mr. Levitt.

Moreover, 79% have never obtained financing for their business outside the Big 4 Banks, indicating that for most, obtaining financial support through the Fintech industry is also not an option.

Data comes from a survey of over 700 SMEs registered to quote on jobs through ServiceSeeking.com.au.