Fintech investment smashed all records in 2021

Fintech 2021 recap cover

2021 has been the year of fintech investment. Global fintech startups have smashed all previous records in 2021. We dig it all out in our Fintech 2021 Report.

Report - Fintech investment in 2021, a recap

Fintech startups have raised $125B in VC funding globally, 2.8x more than in 2020.
This astonishing growth has been mainly driven by megarounds, which accounted for 67% of all funding across a record 332 megarounds.
Early-stage funding is also booming, especially in Europe and emerging markets. 2021 saw almost 1.8k early-stage fintech rounds, nearly 2x from 2016.

Fintech VC funding in 2021 reached $125B, up 2.8x from 2020

The total enterprise value of fintech startups has reached $3.5T, a 6.2x increase from 2016. There are now 433 fintech unicorns globally, 193 of which were born in 2021 alone. More than 40% of all fintech unicorns have been created in 2021.

Cumulative unicorns by year. There are now 433 unicorns, 193 new have been created in 2021.The fintech sector saw $490B of exit value in 2021, more than in the last 5 years combined. Mainly driven by SPACs and IPOs, which accounted for more than 80% of the exit value.
However, performances have been quite poor, with most companies losing double digits from their debut valuation.
Will this put a break on 2022 exits? We highlight countervailing trends, from private valuations to interest rates and the impact they could have on the $500B+ fintech exit pipeline.

NFTs, crypto exchanges & custody, revenue-based financing, neo brokers and BNPL and much more have made 2021 the year of fintech.

Fintech funding growth by trends

Report - Fintech investment in 2021, a recap

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