Quick Answer: HitPay has been named to CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2026 list in the Payments category, produced with Statista. It is the company’s first appearance on the ranking — one of 500 companies globally, 35 in Southeast Asia, and 25 based in Singapore. Among the Southeast Asian entries, HitPay is focused specifically on small business payment acceptance, distinct from consumer wallets, cross-border infrastructure providers, and business banking platforms. Since 2020, businesses on the platform have collectively saved more than US$35 million in payment fees, as non-card payment volume rose 124 times over the same period.

The announcement, dated July 23, 2026, marks a milestone for a company that operates on a team of around 40 people and now serves more than 20,000 businesses across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Australia. It also arrives as Southeast Asia’s fintech sector shifts from rapid expansion toward efficiency and scale — a direction HitPay has been built around from the start.

What the CNBC ranking covers

The CNBC World’s Top Fintech Companies list is produced annually in partnership with Statista. The 2026 edition spans 500 companies across categories including Payments, Lending, Banking, and Insurance. Of those 500, 35 are headquartered in Southeast Asia and 25 are based in Singapore.

The Southeast Asian cohort is varied: it includes consumer wallet providers, cross-border infrastructure platforms, and business banking companies alongside payment acceptance players. HitPay’s 2026 appearance is its first on the ranking.

Built specifically for small business payment acceptance

Among the 35 Southeast Asian companies on the list, HitPay’s focus is specific. Its customers are the retailers, cafés, service providers, and online sellers that make up the overwhelming majority of businesses in the region — not enterprise clients, not consumers.

That positioning is uncommon on a list that spans some of the region’s best-capitalised and most broadly positioned fintech companies. HitPay reached the ranking with roughly US$18.5 million in total funding, including a 2022 Series A led by Tiger Global, and a team of around 40 people.

US$35 million in fee savings — how it happened

Since 2020, businesses on HitPay have collectively saved more than US$35 million in payment fees compared to what they would have paid to legacy banks and card processors. The mechanism behind that number is the shift in how consumers across Southeast Asia actually pay.

Non-card payment volume on the platform rose 124 times between 2020 and today. Real-time payment schemes — PayNow in Singapore, DuitNow in Malaysia, QR Ph in the Philippines — and digital wallets carry meaningfully lower transaction costs than card networks, where interchange fees, scheme charges, and gateway margins stack on top of each other.

“Just over five years back, the only option for merchants to accept payments would be card payments, which by their nature have a high interchange rate. What’s happened in the region since is that you have real-time payment schemes and e-wallets that consumers now prefer, and merchants have had to adopt them at checkout. That allows businesses to increase their margins and become more sustainable.” — Aditya Haripurkar, Co-Founder and CEO of HitPay

What the non-card shift means for merchant margins

Card acceptance costs more per transaction than real-time payment rails because card fees layer interchange, scheme charges, and gateway margins on top of each other. As consumer preference across Southeast Asia shifts toward local methods — QR codes, e-wallets, bank transfers — merchants who accept them alongside cards benefit from a lower blended cost across their total payment volume.

The 124x rise in non-card volume on HitPay reflects a genuine market shift. These methods now represent mainstream consumer behaviour in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. A checkout that accepts cards only is increasingly asking customers to pay in a way they no longer prefer.

Growth across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines

HitPay operates across three regulated Southeast Asian markets. It grew more than 100 percent in the Philippines and 150 percent in Malaysia over the past year, with Singapore anchoring the business as its first and most mature market. The company holds a 4.4 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot and is a Y Combinator alum backed by Tiger Global, Global Founders Capital, and HOF Capital.

“The last decade of fintech was about who could grow fastest. The next one is about who can do the most with the least, and pass that efficiency on to the customer. We built HitPay to prove a small team could serve small businesses better than a company a hundred times its size, and this list tells us that model holds up against anyone.” — Aditya Haripurkar, Co-Founder and CEO of HitPay

The broader fintech context

According to Boston Consulting Group, global fintech revenues grew 22 percent in 2025 to surpass half a trillion dollars — growing more than four times as fast as traditional financial institutions — with BCG describing a sector that is now maturing rather than simply expanding, and funding turning more selective.

Asia-Pacific was the fastest-growing fintech market in 2025, expanding 25 percent according to BCG, driven in part by Southeast Asia, with Singapore among the standout markets. HitPay is among a group of homegrown companies that have scaled from Singapore into neighbouring markets while keeping their regulatory home in the country.

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