Last Year, Global Fintech Investment Deals Hit Record High... Blockchain Soars 449%

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] As interest in blockchain and virtual assets grows, the number of global fintech investment deals reached an all-time high last year.

According to a report published on the 17th by global accounting firm KPMG (Chairman Bill Thomas), the number of global fintech investment deals last year was 5,684, a 51% increase compared to the previous year (3,764 deals). Investment amount reached $210.1 billion, up 68% from $124.9 billion the previous year.

The sector that attracted the most fintech investment last year was payment, with $51.7 billion concentrated in this area. With growing interest in fields such as B2B Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), embedded banking, and open banking partnership solutions, the payment sector globally attracted the largest amount of investment.

Blockchain and virtual assets ($30.2 billion), cybersecurity ($4.8 billion), and asset management ($1.6 billion) sectors all surpassed record investment amounts. In particular, investment in blockchain and virtual asset technologies surged 449% from $5.5 billion in 2020. During the same period, the number of deals increased 43% from 927 to 1,332. The report stated, “This indicates a growing recognition of the potential role of virtual assets in the financial system and the technologies leveraging them.”

Fintech M&A deal value increased from $75.8 billion in 2020 to $83.1 billion last year, and cross-border fintech M&A deal value tripled to $36.2 billion compared to the previous year. Private equity (PE) fintech investment more than doubled from $5.2 billion in 2018, the highest scale at that time, to $12.2 billion last year.

Total fintech investment in the Americas rose from $83.5 billion in 2020 to $105.3 billion last year, and Europe also continued to grow to $77.4 billion last year. The Asia-Pacific region recorded significant growth, increasing from $14.7 billion in 2020 to $27.5 billion last year.

However, last year China’s regulatory tightening across the fintech industry, including bans on virtual asset mining and trading and big tech regulations, led some investors to reduce investments in China and turn their attention to other fintech hubs in the Asia-Pacific such as India and Singapore. Notably, South Korea’s K-Bank ($1.1 billion) and the decacorn Toss ($400 million), which has high growth potential, ranked 2nd and 5th respectively among top fintech investments in the Asia-Pacific region.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.