We asked 14 big backers like Bain Capital Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Point72 what counts as a fintech. They had a wide range of opinions on a $24 billion question.

Kleiner Perkins; Gemini; Goldman Sachs; Ruobing Su/Business Insider

• Business Insider surveyed 14 investors to understand how they define the word "fintech."
• Responses varied greatly. Some think it's pretty straightforward, while others think it's complicated and wide-ranging. Some VCs said the term "fintech" isn't really a thing anymore, and others think "fintech" could mean applying finance to everything, as opposed to applying tech to finance.
• But even though the investors didn't settle on one clear answer, a lot of their money is converging. In 2019, VCs poured more than $24 billion into startups that put a tech spin on spaces ranging from asset management to lending to payments to insurance, according to a CB Insights tally of fintech investment.
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We asked 14 investors to tell us what the term "fintech" means to them, and their responses varied widely.

Some VCs said the term "fintech" isn't really a thing anymore, and others think "fintech" could mean applying finance to everything, as opposed to applying tech to finance.

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Others think it's pretty clear-cut: the combination of financial services and technology.

But even though the investors didn't settle on one clear answer, a lot of their money is converging. In 2019, VCs poured more than $24 billion into startups that put a tech spin on spaces ranging from asset management to lending to payments to insurance, according to a CB Insights tally.

Here's how investors define the fintech space. This is all part of our broader survey of 43 execs at powerful Wall Street firms, hot startups, and big investors, who we all asked to weigh in on the buzzy but hard-to-define term.