Global investment in fintech bounced back strongly in the first half of 2021, hitting $98 billion with a record number of deals, according to KPMG.
Following a sticky, Covid-19-hit 2020, funding across VC, PE and venture capital for H1 2021 was up $12 billion from $87 billion in the same period the previous year, with deal volume hitting a record of 2456.
Global VC investment reached over $52 billion for the six months — very close to the annual record of $54 billion seen in 2018. The largest VC rounds include Robinhood ($3.4 billion), Brazil's Nubank ($1.5 billion), BNPL firm Klarna (two rounds totalling $1.9 billion), and Germany-based wealthtech Trade Republic ($900 million).
The US continues to lead fintech funding, accounting for $42.1 billion, with the Americas as a whole making up $51.4 billion. Emea saw $39.1 billion in investment, up from $26 billion in the first half of 2020, while Asia saw $7.5 billion - up from $4.5 billion in H1 2020.
Among the hit sectors so far this year are wealthtech, regtech, crypto and cybersecurity.
Anton Ruddenklau, global co-leader, fintech, KPMG International, says: "Cryptocurrency and blockchain is exploding globally. There’s so much happening in the space right now, between the eCNY project running in China, Facebook’s Diem, a number of ecosystem initiatives — not to mention all the different trading platforms raising money.
"Digital currencies and virtual assets are a big, big topic of conversation. I think for the rest of this year at least, crypto will be a very hot ticket for investors."