The UK has emerged as a leading fintech hub with investment hitting $37.3 billion in 2021, up sevenfold from $5.2 billion in 2020, according to the Pulse of Fintech H2’21 – a bi-annual report published by KPMG highlighting global fintech investment trends.
In total there were over 600 M&A, private equity and venture capital deals finalised last year, 27% hike over 2020. This was mainly due to a plethora of high value deals, with five of the ten largest fintech transactions in the EMEA region completed in the UK.
The UK remains at the centre of European fintech investment with British fintechs attracting more funding than their counterparts in the rest of Emea combined,” says Karim Haji, partner and UK and EMA head of financial services at KPMG.
Globally, fintech funding across M&A, private equity and venture capital totalled $210bn across a record 5,684 deals last year.
Although payments continued to attract the most funding – accounting for $51.7bn last year, blockchain and crypto were also popular, attracting an all-time global high of $30.2 billion in investment – compared to $5.5 billion in 2020.
This was more than three times the previous record of $8.2 billion seen in 2018.
Other fintech areas that garnered robust funding included insurtech, $14.4 billion, regtech, $9.9 billion and cybersecurity, $4.85 billion.
“We’re seeing an incredible amount of interest in all manner of fintech companies, with record funding in areas like blockchain and crypto, cybersecurity, and wealthtech, “says Anton Ruddenklau, global fintech leader, KPMG International. “While payments remain a significant driver of fintech activity, the sector is broadening every day.”
Andreas Iten, CEO and co–founder of F10, a global incubator for disruptive fintech start-ups, adds, “This research reinforces the fact that there is an ever-increasing appetite among VCs and angel investors to put their money into innovative fintech firms.
There is no doubt that fintech’s remain of paramount importance to the future economic growth prospects of all parts of the globe, not just the UK. It is vital that the ongoing work to nurture them continues to ensure other global hubs, such as Singapore, also remain attractive for investment.”
@Markets Media Europe 2022
[divider_to_top]
