PR News | Fintech: The Holy Grail of Tech PR
For many tech-averse PR practitioners, mention the word “fintech” and you’ll see instant terror in their eyes. Technology is geeky enough for them, but combine that with economics and some run to corporate or consumer safe spaces.
For me, over 30 years in the profession, it has been quite the opposite. Pitching, winning and pitching campaigns for a new fintech opportunity brings the same excitement and anticipation as during my early career jobs in broadcast journalism.
The term fintech refers to a wide range of financial technologies used to either compete with or improve traditional methods of financial service delivery. Common examples include mobile money and digital wallets, cross-border transfers, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, crowdfunding, online banking, payment and shared payment services, regtech, cloud services, biometric security, commerce technologies and more.
The US fintech market was $112.5 billion in 2021 with predictions that the global market will reach $332.5 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate of just under 20 percent. There are an estimated 10,755 fintech startups in America as of November 2021. Deloitte reports fintech investment fell to $52.9 billion in the first half of 2022 alone. Regardless of which data is most relevant, and despite today’s short-term economic uncertainty, the figures point to long-term continued growth. For PR practitioners, it means continuous expansion of opportunities.
For those of us who derive most of our income from the technology sector, fintech isn’t really that much different from other verticals. By and large, we use the same tactics, journalistic sensibilities and business ethics to build market awareness and share of voice.
Once consumer adoption takes hold, fintech is less scary. Consider PayPal, Klarna, Quicken, Billpay, Venmo, and Zelle as common examples of fintech apps or services that have gone mainstream. But when you hit the b2b market, fintech often creates a new ecosystem and vocabulary. Here are some quick examples that underscore the excitement and potential of fintechs pushing their markets, and at times creating new ones.
Financial and telecom services for underbanked and underserved communities
 SurgePays celebrates its recent IPO on the Nasdaq Marketsite in New York with CEO Brian Cox. |
Based in Bartlett, TN, SurgePays is a technology and telecom company focused on the underbanked and underserved communities. The blockchain fintech platform is installed in approximately 8,000 convenience stores and bodegas to offer financial and prepaid products—converting cash into digital, prepaid top-up and transportation cards—to consumers who many see as the last digital frontier. These transactions enable neighborhood stores to become tech hubs while helping transform store associates into de facto fintech experts.
Recently, the company launched the ability for its merchants to offer Bitcoin and other digital currencies to consumers, who use this service as a cost-effective means of sending money back “home” to their home countries. Between these services and its active participation in the federal government’s Emergency Broadband Program and Affordable Connectivity Program, SurgePays’ business and market opportunities are growing rapidly, underscored by its 2021 IPO on the Nasdaq. It is a fintech and telecom company to keep an eye on.
Digital wallet technology for education and public users
Digital wallets may be old-fashioned to some consumers, but take the same technology and move it into industries that are slow to adapt and they become transformative. A good example is Miami-based ClassWallet, which went all-in on innovation to address the inefficiencies of moving money within school districts and classroom environments. The company rolled out a platform technology that allows teachers to purchase authorized classroom supplies and technology without having to go through a long and cumbersome centralized district ordering protocol and an even longer reimbursement process. More and more districts—as well as many state governments—moved to the technology.
But the big breakthrough happened when the pandemic hit and teachers were forced to set up temporary classrooms at home. They needed supplies and technologies almost overnight with limited mechanisms to obtain them. Broad market adoption increased. So, as past and present federal administrations began pumping billions in grants to states, districts, families and students to help them purchase technology, supplies and specialized services to combat learning loss, state governments and districts hit a brick wall— many had little or no way to effectively track, report and distribute these funds.
ClassWallet pivoted and began offering multiple services, based on its digital wallet technology, that could be used to support government grants, scholarship programs, and funding for non-public schools and special education students. ClassWallet’s digital wallet platform is also more secure, efficient and transparent than existing procurement systems used by most schools and government agencies.
In fiscal year 2021, the privately held company reported a 700 percent increase in business and triple-digit increases in transaction volume and revenue. It is on track to surpass that in 2022. ClassWallet is quickly becoming an industry standard and is now used in 27 states and by 19 government agencies, across 6,200 schools serving 4.1 million students.
A crypto custody solution to encourage mass adoption
It may feel like “wintertime” to those who have bought into Bitcoin or other digital currencies, but for visionary companies like startup Vaultavo, it’s the perfect time to address one of the critical roadblocks to crypto’s mainstream expansion – the vulnerability of online commerce, transactions and protection of digital assets.
In 2021, criminal hackers stole around $3.2 billion in cryptocurrency, six times more than in 2020 and including six hacks of at least $100 million. Digital assets are complex and difficult to manage. These conditions have created a growing global demand for secure and effortless custody options to store and use digital assets.
Our team has been working with Vaultavo to position the solution to these problems, support fundraising efforts and prepare for a marketplace launch in the second half of this year. To do so, we work with analysts, initiate conversations with key journalists and influencers and secure speaking platforms at major crypto and fintech industry events. If digital currencies will survive and flourish in the future, it will be because of fintech trailblazers like Vaultavo who are creating cutting-edge solutions to highly complex industry challenges.
It’s companies like ClassWallet, SurgePays and Vaultavo that bring the potential of fintech and related technologies to market reality and make working in this fast-moving market so exciting for PR practitioners. Can’t wait to see what’s next on the horizon and how it will help us all in our business and home lives.
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Henry Feintuch is president of Feintuch Communications.
