Overview & Insights
- In the first quarter of 2024, the total number of investment and financing events in the global fintech industry was 249, with a total amount of US$17.5 billion. Among them, the amount of investment and financing in March was 8.1 billion yuan, the highest in the first quarter, and the number and amount of investment and financing in March increased compared with January and February.
- Early-stage startups in the global fintech industry are still buoyant. From the perspective of the number of investment and financing, the investment and financing events in each region in the first quarter of 2024 are mainly concentrated in the seed round, A round and B round. The seed round and Series A investment and financing events in the Americas far exceeded those in other regions, with 27 and 14 respectively, accounting for 73% and 50% of the corresponding rounds, respectively. The number of investment and financing events in each round in the Asia-Pacific region is relatively evenly distributed, with slightly more investment and financing events before Series C than after Series C.
- From a regional perspective, the Americas is still a popular region for fintech investment and financing, and the business model of fintech startups in the region may be more mature, with the proportion and frequency of investment and financing in this region accounting for more than 50% of the global total.
- Banking and lending, payments, and data and information services were the hottest areas for investment and financing in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for 54% of the total investment and financing of the entire industry.
- Insurance and insurtech, securities and asset management are the most concentrated segments of fintech in the first quarter of 2024, with the amount of investment and financing events exceeding 100 million yuan accounting for a similar proportion, as high as 94.17% and 90.45% respectively, while the number of times accounted for only 22.22% and 28.57%. Monzo, a UK-based digital bank, contributed the largest investment and financing event in the fintech industry in the first quarter of 2024 with a single financing round of $430 million. In addition, the amount of investment and financing events of more than 100 million yuan in the banking and lending sector accounted for more than 80%, and the amount of investment and financing events of more than 100 million yuan in the field of payment, data and information services also accounted for more than 70%.
- The U.S. is more active in investment and financing in the fintech industry. China receives the most financing in data and information services, while the United States receives the most financing.
Financing Overview
Regional analysis
The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific are the most popular regions for investment and financing in the first quarter of 2024
- The Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe had 127, 61 and 45 investment and financing events respectively, with investment and financing amounts of about US$9.7, 1.9 billion and 4.4 billion US dollars, accounting for 91% of the total global investment and financing amount. The Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe have been the most popular areas for investment and financing in the past two years.
Emerging startups in the fintech sector remain buoyant across regions, particularly in the Americas
- In terms of the number of investment and financing, in the first quarter of 2024, the investment and financing events in each region are mainly concentrated in the seed round, A round and B round, and the seed round and A round of investment and financing events in the Americas far exceed those in other regions, with 27 and 14 respectively, accounting for 73% and 50% of the corresponding rounds, respectively. The number of investment and financing events in each round in the Asia-Pacific region is relatively evenly distributed, with slightly more investment and financing events before Series C than after Series C.
Fintech startups in the Americas are likely to have more mature business models, while the Asia-Pacific region is more balanced
- Fintech companies in the Americas have more mature business models, while fintech companies in the Asia-Pacific region have a more balanced development. The Americas region accounted for a relatively large proportion of the seed round and Series C investment and financing, and the A round of investment and financing also accounted for more than 50%; The financing rounds in Europe are mainly concentrated in the C+ round, accounting for about 55%; Financing in the Asia-Pacific region was mainly concentrated in Series A and Series B, accounting for the largest amount.
Industry analysis
Banking, payments, and data and information services are the hottest areas for investment and financing in the first quarter of 2024
- Banking & Lending, Payments, and Data & Information Services are the hottest areas for investment and financing in the first quarter of 2024. There were 67 financing events in the banking, lending and payment sectors, with investment and financing amounts of about US$5.1 billion and US$2.4 billion, respectively. In the field of data and information services, there were 65 financing events, but the financing amount was not large. The amount of investment and financing in the insurance and insurtech sector did not exceed that in the field of data and information services, but the amount of investment and financing in the field of insurance and insurtech exceeded that in the field of data and information services, which was US$2.8 billion. The amount of investment and financing in the field of securities and asset management was 2.2 billion yuan.
- The number of investment and financing events in the areas of banking and lending, payment and data and information services accounted for 66% of the total investment and financing events of the whole industry, and the amount accounted for 54% of the whole industry. Banking, lending and payment have been a hot investment and financing track in the past two years.
In the first quarter of 2024, the investment and financing events in various fintech segments were mainly concentrated in the seed round and A round
- In the first quarter of 2024, the investment and financing events in various fintech segments were mainly concentrated in the seed round and Series A round. Compared with other fields, blockchain, data and information services, and banking and lending have an advantage in the number of investment and financing events, which are 34, 32 and 30, respectively, and the number of investment and financing events in each round also dominates. Investment and financing events in the payment sector are mainly concentrated in the seed round, and investment and financing events in the securities and asset management and insurance and insurtech sectors are mainly concentrated in the C round.
Insurance and securities are the segments with the highest concentration of mega-sized investment and financing events in fintech in the first quarter of 2024
- In the first quarter of 2024, insurance and insurtech, securities and asset management are the subdivisions with the highest concentration of super-large investment and financing events in fintech, accounting for 94.17% and 90.45% of the investment and financing events of more than 100 million yuan, respectively, while the number of investment and financing events accounted for only 22.22% and 28.57%. Monzo, a UK-based digital bank, contributed the largest investment and financing event in the fintech industry in the first quarter of 2024 with a single financing round of $430 million. In addition, the amount of investment and financing events of more than 100 million yuan in the banking and lending sector accounted for more than 80%, and the amount of investment and financing events of more than 100 million yuan in the field of payment, data and information services also accounted for more than 70%.
Comparison between China and the United States
The U.S. is more active in investing and financing in the fintech industry than in China
- In terms of total volume, in the first quarter of 2024, the number and amount of fintech financing in the United States were higher than those in China. In terms of financing rounds, Series A has the largest number of fintech financing rounds in China, accounting for 40% of the total number of rounds, while the United States has more seed rounds for early-stage projects. In terms of financing amount, China's share of Series B financing is higher than that of the United States.
China receives the most financing in data and information services, while the United States receives the most financing
- China receives the most financing in data and information services, while the United States receives the most financing. Data and information services were the most frequently financed in the U.S. and China, with 29 and 9 respectively, followed by insurance and insurtech, and banking and lending and payments in the U.S.
Top 10 Notable Financings (Appendix)
1. Monzo
Monzo has more than 9 million personal account customers, making it the seventh largest retail bank in the UK. In the wake of the pandemic, Monzo has seen rapid growth and launched a series of new businesses targeting pensions and investments, with plans to enter the insurance industry.
Amount: $430 million
参投机构：CapitalG
2. Finn
Founded in 2019 and located in Munich, Germany, it provides flexible on-demand car rental financial services, including car rental pricing, payment, insurance, maintenance and other value-added services, with users only need to pay a monthly service fee without a high down payment.
Amount: $110 million
参投机构：Planet First Partners
3. HashKey Group
A digital asset management service provider, focusing on the management of blockchain assets, digital currency trading, venture capital and other businesses, and has established a blockchain fund to provide investors with investment strategies.
Financing amount: $100 million
参投机构：OKX Ventures
4. Moove
Moove, a global mobility fintech company, embeds its alternative credit scoring technology into ride-hailing platforms, using proprietary performance and revenue analytics to guarantee customers who were previously excluded from financial services, thereby giving customers access to financial services.
Financing amount: $100 million
Participating organization: Uber
5. Matter Labs
Blockchain research and development service provider, committed to solving the scalability and privacy problems on the basis of distributed ledger technology, and building a secure, scalable, programmable and privacy-preserving blockchain technology.
Financing amount: $50 million
Participating organization: Sygnum
6. Flowdesk
A French digital asset financial technology provider, focusing on building trading infrastructure to provide market-making services, digital asset management, brokerage and custody services for Web3 users.
Financing amount: $50 million
参投机构：Cathay Innovation
7. Qoala
Indonesian insurtech startup focused on distributing retail insurance products for cars, bikes, home and health to consumers through its omnichannel platform.
Financing amount: $47 million
参投机构：PayPal Ventures，MassMutual Ventures
8. Metronome
Billing and data infrastructure platform developers can process data at scale so that users can iterate on business models without changing code, while also providing a single source of truth and real-time API services for users' usage and billing data.
Financing amount: $43 million
参投机构：New Enterprise Associates
9. Relay
A digital banking service provider that provides small and medium-sized enterprises with banking services to automate their financial functions, including account opening, debit cards, auto-replenishment, and more. Help small and medium-sized enterprises realize the automation and intelligence of financial management.
Amount: $32 million
参投机构:Bain Capital Ventures
10. Vouch
A U.S.-based fintech start-up that provides proprietary insurance products and risk assessment tools to high-growth companies.
Amount: $25 million
参投机构：Ribbit Capital
P.S. Methodology
Industry Definition
- Banking & Lending: Includes traditional banking transformation and banking technology, as well as management and technology enablement for corporate and household deposits and borrowing.
- Securities and asset management: including the transformation of traditional brokerages, securities technology and asset management technology, as well as management and technology empowerment for corporate and household asset allocation.
- Insurance & InsurTech: Including traditional insurance transformation and InsurTech, as well as empowerment for corporate and family medical services and health management.
- Payment: Payment companies that provide internet payments, mobile payments, and aggregator payments.
- Blockchain: Blockchain-related enterprises engaged in blockchain technology development, blockchain-related applications, industry research, digital wallets and other blockchain-related enterprises.
- Data and information services: related enterprises engaged in data collection, processing and analysis, and obtain valuable information through data.
Territory Definition
- The Americas region includes all countries geographically located in North America and South America;
- The Asia-Pacific region includes all countries geographically located in Asia and the Western Pacific region;
- The Europe region includes all countries in Europe geographically;
- The Middle East includes all countries geographically located in the eastern and southern regions of the Mediterranean;
- The Africa region includes all countries geographically located in Africa.