Fintech funding in Q1 2024 tops $6.5B, venture capitalists turn less bearish
April 15, 2024
Quotes from Sampath Sharma Nariyanuri, Fintech Research Analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence:
“The fintech funding landscape has shown promising signs in 2024, with some regions and segments experiencing growth. Based on current trends, the fintech industry is expected to experience growth in funding during the latter half of 2024. This outlook is supported by the strong public market valuations of fintech companies.
“Late-stage investing continued to increase in Q1 2024, partly aided by the growing participation of private equity firms. It is highly likely that several fintechs that completed at least a late-stage round could go public from the second half of 2024 to late 2026 if the current cycle of interest rate tightening reverses.
“The fintech industry is increasingly leveraging AI to deliver AI-infused features aimed at modernizing workflows or improving customer experiences, and AI-focused insurance tech startups are attracting the most funding. Banking technology had a decent quarter, and consumer-focused fintechs are returning to the venture capital market.”
Key highlights from the report include:
- Financial technology startups globally engaged in 529 funding rounds worth $6.58 billion in the first quarter of 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. This represents an 18% fall in round count and a 26% decline in dollar value on a year-over-year basis.
- Compared to the previous quarter, fintech funding value was flat and the deal count grew 13%.
- By region, APAC saw the largest year-over-year decline in value, largely because of the base effect, falling 46% to $1.85 billion. Latin America doubled its dollar value of investments to just under $500 million. North America and EMEA each attracted over $2.1 billion, registering year-over-year declines of 26% and 10%, respectively.
- By segment, the banking technology segment had a decent quarter, pulling in $1.86 billion from 72 deals in Q1 2024, up from $1.7 billion via 62 deals a year ago. Payments drew in $1.41 billion from 127 rounds, featuring just one more-than-$100 million funding round. This is down from $3.5 billion through 151 rounds during the same period last year.
- Fintech startups harnessing AI, largely hail from insurance technology, which saw a cumulative total of 55 rounds worth $700 million since the beginning of 2023.
To request more findings from the report, please contact press.mi@spglobal.com.
* This was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global. Please attribute any commentary/data you cite from this analysis to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Spencer Umbeck
Senior Specialist, Communications Operations
S&P Global Market Intelligence
