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What Mary Meeker’s Report Says About the State of Fintech

What Mary Meeker’s Report Says About the State of Fintech

Mary Meeker, general partner at Bond Capital, a VC firm she founded, released her Internet Trends Report this week at Recode’s Code conference. The report, which aims to deconstruct the future of the internet, has come to be a yearly highlight for techies since 1995, as it contains data and insights on nearly every aspect of the internet.

At 333 pages long, the report contains a wealth of information relevant to a range of industries, so we’ve dissected a quick look at some of the details that are relevant and useful specifically for banking and fintech.

  • The number of internet users is at 50% global penetration but growth is slowing.
  • The Asia Pacific opportunity persists: Asia Pacific claims 21% of global internet users. The U.S. trails at 8%.
  • Ecommerce growth is “solid” and up from last year.
  • Customer acquisition costs are rising and have been steadily increasing over time.
  • Customers try a new service if they see a positive product recommendation or if they can first use a freemium version. In fact, Meeker said the freemium strategy as a business model is “just getting started.”
  • Investment from VCs, public stock exchanges, and IPOs remains high.
  • The best ways to engage with audiences are through short form video or voice engagement, such as podcasts or Amazon Echo, which now has 4.7 million users (up 2x since last year).
  • Cyber attacks are on the rise but the time it takes to detect them is falling.
  • Digital payments account for more than 50% of daily transactions.

In the report, Meeker also mentioned specific fintechs and their growth. Including:

  • China’s Alipay has 1 billion users, up 2x in two years.
  • South Korea’s Toss has 12 million users, up 2x in one year.
  • Revolut has 4 million users, up 2x in 10 months.
  • Brazil’s NuBank has 9 million customers, up 2x in one year.
  • Latin America’s Mercado Libre has had 389 million transactions, up 2x in two years.

Read the full report or check out Recode’s bullet point breakdown to get a gist of the fuller picture.