Total global fintech funding (across mergers & acquisitions, private equity and venture capital) reached $210 billion with a record 5,684 deals in 2021 — up from $125 billion across 3,674 deals in 2020, KPMG said in a report.
The KPMG report said India once again shined on the global map, with four out of top 10 fintech deals in the Asia-Pacific region originating from the country.
The fintech funding in the second half of last year accounted for $101 billion.
The payments space saw $51.7 billion in investment in 2021 – up from $29.1 billion in 2020 and investment in blockchain and crypto space soared from $5.5 billion in 2020 to $30.2 billion in 2021.
A surge in interest in areas like buy now, pay later (BNPL), embedded banking, and open banking aligned solutions has helped keep the payments space very robust.
Cybersecurity ($4.85 billion) and wealthtech ($1.62 billion) also saw record-levels of investment.
Cross-border fintech M&A deal value more than tripled to $36.2 billion.
Total fintech-focused M&A deal value rose from $76 billion in 2020 to $83.1 billion in 2021.
PE funding to fintechs more than doubled from its previous high – with $12.2 billion in investment in 2021 compared to a peak of $5.2 billion in 2018.
VC investment in fintech globally more than doubled year-over-year — from $46 billion in 2020 to a record $115 billion investment in 2021.
The US accounted for $88 billion of total funding and $52.7 billion in VC funding.
Fintech investment in the Asia-Pacific region almost doubled – from $14.7 billion in 2020 to $27.5 billion in 2021, said the KPMG report.
