The year 2018 started with a bang for the fintech market, with overall investment across venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals at mid-year already well above 2017’s total investment results. The sharp increase in activity was driven in part by two massive deals: the record-setting $14 billion raise by Ant Financial during Q2’18 and Vantiv’s acquisition of WorldPay in Q1’18 for $12.9 billion.
The Pulse
of Fintech
2018
Biannual global analysis of
investment in fintech
31 July 2018
2
#fintechpulse
Welcome to the latest edition of the Pulse of Fintech a biannual
report highlighting key activities and trends within the fintech market
globally and in key regions around the world.
The year 2018 started with a bang for the fintech market, with overall
investment across venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and mergers
and acquisitions (M&A) deals at mid-year already well above 2017's
total investment results. The sharp increase in activity was driven in part
by two massive deals: the record-setting $14 billion raise by Ant
Financial during Q2'18 and Vantiv's acquisition of WorldPay in Q1'18
for $12.9 billion.
Notwithstanding the two outlier deals, fintech market activity worldwide
gained momentum during the first half of the year as the geographic
diversity and reach of fintech investment continued to expand. Brazil,
for example, gained some prominence earlier this year as Nubank
joined the fintech unicorn club. France, Switzerland, South Korea and
Japan also saw significant fintech deals extending investment well
beyond traditional fintech leaders like the US, UK, China and India.
In the more mature fintech areas of payments and lending, dominant
market players continued to emerge over the first 6 months of 2018,
attracting larger and larger deal sizes. Meanwhile, a broader range of
companies focused on newer areas of fintech innovation, such as
artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, also attracted attention from
fintech investors.
Regulatory issues have been a hot button topic for corporate and other
fintech investors so far this year, particularly in Europe, as a result of
the implementation of Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The increasing focus on
managing regulatory requirements and compliance contributed to an
increase in funding for regtech companies. In just 6 months, VC funding
to regtech companies has alr