Investment in financial technology may have fallen a spectacular 47 percent last year, but it is perhaps just an indication of the maturation of the industry.
Total global funding to fintech companies fell to 47 percent to $24.7 billion in 2016 from $46.7 billion the year before, according to KPMG’s quarterly fintech funding report, The Pulse of Fintech, which came out Feb. 23. Deal activity dropped to 1,076 from 1,255 the year before.
“The appetite for fintech investment is strong and will remain so for the foreseeable future,” said Steven Ehrlich, lead analyst for emerging technologies at Spitzberg Partners. “However, things are certainly not as frothy as they used to be, especially for the early-stage companies.”
That’s largely due to investors’ renewed focus on business models and plans for profitability, Ehrich said. And as always, regulation. “Startups are realizing that they cannot skirt those requirements, and financial institutions are working to make sure that everyone is playing by the same set of rules.”
We dove into who’s funding fintech activity on a global level today.
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