Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: With 167 deals worth $1.84bn, venture capital investment in UK fintech firms has slumped by nearly 40% during the first six months of 2020.
According to a study by UK fintech industry body Innovate Finance, this compares to $3 billion invested into 263 startups in the first half of 2019, representing a 39% drop in capital invested.
However, the figure for the first six months of 2020 is actually up on H2 2019, when funding totaled $1.5 bn into 214 FinTechs.
"Drilling down a bit further, we see that four "mega deals" over $100 million drove much of the investment activity in the first half of this year. Investments into Revolut, Checkout.com, Starling Bank and Onfido represent 47% of the total capital raised," said the report.
Digital banking app Revolut raised $500m in February, while payments start-up Checkout.com followed its $230m series A fundraise in 2019 with another $150m in June. Starling Bank and Onfido have also raised significant sums this year.
There were another eight deals ranging between $20 to $100 million, representing a quarter of investment. At the smaller end, there were 35 deals in the $5 - $20 million bracket, totaling $376 million or 20% of overall capital investment. A further 87 deals, worth less than $5 million each, make up the rest.
"Many smaller startups are on short runways and will need capital injections before the year is up - as shown in our June survey. The reduction i...................... To view our full article Click here
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