Fintech companies raised USD 39.6 bln in 2018

According to CB Insights, venture capital-backed fintech companies have raised USD 39.57 billion from investors globally in 2018, up 120% from 2017.

The research has also found that the funding was raised through 1,707 deals, up from 1,480 in 2017. The surge in funding was due in large part to 52 mega-rounds (investments larger than USD 100 million), which were worth USD 24.88 billion combined.

 

The research further uncovers the following:

• a USD 14 billion investment in Ant Financial accounted for 35% of total fintech funding alone in 2018;
• in the last three months of 2018, five companies joined the rank of fintech “unicorns”: Brex, Monzo, and Plaid;
• venture capital investors have been pouring billions of dollars into fintech companies to gain market share from incumbent financial institutions;
• fintechs have emerged globally across all sectors of finance, including lending, banking, and wealth management;
• Asia saw the biggest jump in number of deals in 2018, growing 38% from 2017 and accounted for USD 22.65 billion;
• in the US, fintechs raised USD 11.89 billion through 659 investments, while the number of deals dropped in Europe, but funding reached USD 3.53 billion.