In the second quarter of 2024, Asian fintech startups raised US$1.2 billion from venture capital (VC), bringing total VC funding in the first half of 2024 to US$2.4 billion.
The total represents a 17.2% decrease from last year, continuing a downward trend that began in 2022 due to market uncertainty, economic instability and concerns about profitability, data from a new report from CB Insights revealed.
“State of Fintech Q2 2024” Report reveal Funding into Asian fintechs has fallen sharply this year, hitting the lowest half-yearly funding levels in at least six years, data showed. show.
Low fundraising levels in Asia are primarily due to a lack of large funding rounds of $100 million or more.
Only two such deals were recorded in the first half of 2024: HashKey Group, a Hong Kong-based digital asset financial services group, and Secured Ascend Money, a Thai digital financial services provider, raised $100 million in a Series A funding round in January 2024. Raised The company plans to raise $195 million in Series D in June 2024.
Despite the overall decline, Southeast Asia remains attractive to investors this year.
In the first half of 2024, the total value of 20 VC deals in Asia reached US$1.109 billion, with Southeast Asian fintech startups securing 37% of that amount (US$411 million) across seven deals.
Global Fintech Funding Trends
Fintech fundraising activity in Asia is in line with global patterns: Globally, fintech fundraising fell 32% year-on-year, dropping from US$24.1 billion in the first half of 2023 to US$16.4 billion in the first half of 2024.
However, quarterly fintech funding rose 19% quarter-over-quarter to $8.9 billion in Q2 2024. The surge was driven by two large late-stage deals: Stripe’s $694 million Series Iand Alpha Sense $650 million Series FStripe is a leading US financial infrastructure platform for businesses, and AlphaSense is a market intelligence and search platform.
There was a notable shift towards mid- and late-stage deals in the first half of 2024. The proportion of mid- and late-stage deals increased from 17% in 2023 to 20% in the first half of 2024, indicating an improving business environment and increased investor confidence in later-stage companies compared to the previous two years.
This trend is especially pronounced in sectors such as payments and lending. In the payments sector, mid- and late-stage rounds will account for 27% of deals in the first half of 2024, up from 21% in 2023. Notable deals in this sector include Stripe’s Series I, Ramp’s $150 Million Series D-2and Guesty’s $130 million Series FRamp is an American expense management platform and Guesty is a property management software platform.
In digital lending, mid- and late-stage deals accounted for 35% of deals in the first half of 2024, compared to 20% in 2023. Notable deals included Five $66 million Series ECurrents $65 million Series BBrim Financial $63 million Series CFibe (formerly EarlySalary) is an Indian consumer lending startup, Colendi is a Turkish digital banking startup, and Brim Financial is a Canadian credit card platform and payments automation specialist.
By comparison, early-stage deals made up 72% of fintech deals in the first half of 2024, down from 74% in 2023. Deals at this stage were driven by digital asset companies, a sector that has gained new attention as the crypto winter thaws. Digital asset companies accounted for nearly a third of the top 10 seed/angel and top 10 Series A rounds. Two of the largest early-stage deals in the crypto space were for TradeDog Market Manager. $75 million seed roundand Biton’s $44 million Series A.
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