# The Fintech Revolution (or, The Little Engine That Could)
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/blog/the-fintech-revolution/index.md

Authors: Amy Neale. What. A. Year. Last week CB Insights reported $95B funding flowing into fintech companies in 2021. For anyone working in fintech, even though this number is a 200% increase on 2020, it's really no surprise. The pace of change this year has been unprecedented. It seems as though the builders behind the segment were poised and ready to tackle the challenges of the pandemic, taking advantage of the flood of capital to execute on long-held visions. Back in 2008 the financial crisis gave birth to the growth in fintech. The fallout created a new generation of entrepreneurs, keen to move faster than traditional banks and welcoming consumers' openness to switching. A handful of winners leapt forward who have gone on to achieve unicorn status and, more importantly, are in the hands of millions of consumers across the globe. Today fintech has new breadth and complexity. Capital investment has grown, strategies for profitability have matured, and the number of players is increasing daily. Collaboration, platforms and partnerships abound, who owns the end-user is shifting, and new entrants continue to gain traction. 2021 certainly feels like a pivot point. In this evolving landscape it seems as though everyone wants to be a fintech. Large scaled fintech companies that have either IPO'ed or raised billions of private capital. Tiny teams starting out and trying to achieve product market fit. Established brands with large user bases and huge amounts of data that want to inject financial services. Existing legacy banks that are changing up their core stack to be fintech-like in their approach. Across this spectrum there is a real mix of those building products customers want with beautiful user interfaces as well as those building the enablement layer with micro-services, APIs and composable infrastructure. Given this complex landscape, what is driving the revolution? Consumer trends following the pandemic? Yes. Many of us will agree as consumers that our relationship with payments and commerce has fundamentally shifted over the last 18 months. Contactless payments and ecommerce are irreversible trends. The move to partnership and ecosystems? Undoubtedly. There is a fantastic shift going on in the world of technology with a new open-ness to collaborative business models and new types of build partner buy strategies. Heck, even startups buy startups these days. Web 3 promising something truly new? There is lots happening in 2021 with inclusive applications for crypto as well as smart contracts driving better banking experiences. And there is demonstrable appetite from consumers. But beyond the pandemic, new business models, and technology adoption, the real engine driving fintech growth comes down to two things: The optimism of visionary fintech founders driven by a mission to put a dent in the universe and change things for the better. The talent and hard work of incredible engineering teams who believe they can. At Mastercard we're supporting founding teams and engineering talent to build and launch incredible products and grow scalable businesses with best in class APIs, a global partner network and a track record of collaborating with startups that spans many years. Mastercard Developers is our fintech front door that allows us to: Collaborate with early stage fintechs wherever they are in the world - Start Path is our global startup engagement program through which we co-innovate with companies to turn their bold ideas into real businesses built on technology. Support fintech companies to become large global brands - Fintech Express is our framework to get new card programs into market at speed and we have been privileged to work with household fintech names from their very earliest days to unicorn status Partner with the players who are enabling others - Fintech enablers can become part of our qualified partner network, benefiting from enrolling in Mastercard Engage to work in locations across. the globe to help others to get products into market. We've supported the first leg of fintech and we're already collaborating on what's next. If you're building that engine that will drive the fintech revolution, let us join you on the journey