A data-driven look at global financial technology investment trends, top deals, active investors, and corporate activity.
Report Highlights:
- Globally there are 29 fintech unicorns valued, in aggregate, at $84.4B. Q2’18 saw five new unicorns births, bringing up the total VC-backed unicorn count to 29 worth a combined $84.4B. Ribbit Capital is the most active fintech unicorn investor, followed by QED Investors.
- Asia could be on track to surpass the US in fintech deals. Asia set a quarterly record with 133 deals, driven by a spike in early-stage deals and a 94% increase in deals in China, which saw 68 deals worth $15.4B. In the US, early-stage deals as percentage of total deals fell to a five-quarter low.
- US remains top market with five-year funding record. Q2’18 saw a slight dip in deals from Q1’18’s record, but it was still a quarterly high for funding to US-based fintech companies on the back of six mega-round investments which minted two unicorns (Circle and Tradeshift).
- Europe saw Q2’18 deals rebound with surge in early-stage deals. The boost in early-stage deals helps explain a dip in funding. Despite a 20% funding decrease from Q1, funding for H1’18 beat H1’17. Europe also minted a unicorn (Revolut) and had two largest exits to date.