Data from KPMG's Q4 2016 The Pulse of Fintech report showed US fintech funding decreasing to $12.8 billion in 2016, down from $27 billion in 2015; deal flow was also lower with 489 deals in 2016, a decrease from 615 deals in 2015; globally, funding was lower at $25 billion versus $47 billion in 2015. Source
According to a new research report by KPMG and CB Insights, the number of deals and total value of venture capital investment dropped in Q3 to $2.9 billion down from $9.4 billion in Q2; the report points out that the significant drop was due in large part to a $4.5 billion investment to Alipay owner Ant Financial in Q2; while Asia investment remains strong, UK investment was hurt due to Brexit uncertainty and the US market saw a decline due in large part to the presidential election; overall investment trends remain positive as the amount invested for 2016 is on track to surpass 2015. Source
This year's list is focused on fintech's most powerful dealmakers from the past year, with extra emphasis on partnerships that act not just as funders but also strategic advisors; the fintech sector in particular has taken the term partnership to a new level as these startups need the investment and advisory relationship more than other sectors; Vanessa Colella of Citi Ventures explains, "We are beginning to observe much more of a push toward collaboration - a shift from complete independence to an interest in building tools with established players that happened really quickly in this sector." Source
Lemonade has raised $34 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst; the Series B round brings the total funding to $60 million; the company plans to use the funding for state expansion with California as its next target. Source
CB Insights reports on first quarter 2017 venture capital deals in their "MoneyTree Report" published in collaboration with PwC; globally, venture capitalists invested $27.1 billion in the first quarter with 2,228 deals; deals and investments increased from the fourth quarter of 2016 and were below the first quarter of 2016. Source
The European Investment Fund (EIF) supports venture capitalists across Europe. Its publication, "The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective Volume III: Liquidity events and returns of EIF-backed VC investments," studies the investment performance of over 3,600 EIF-backed venture capital investments made from 1996 to 2015. Its primary goal is to identify the effects of the EIF's venture capital activity.
Results across venture capital investments are wide ranging with 4% of exits returning more than five times the investment and generating 50% of the total aggregated proceeds. Among these successful exits are 152 company IPOs of EIF-backed start-ups from 1996 to 2015 on 20 different stock exchanges around the world.
Investment from the European Investment Fund could be an important factor for the UK to manage as it exits from the European Union. Approximately 20% of the EIF's investment has been in the UK and over the past four years the EIF has invested EUR2.8 billion in the UK directly. If funding ceases many venture capital firms may consider moving their headquarters to provide for continued EIF investment in EU locations. Source
Fintech companies around the world are receiving huge funding rounds at sky high valuations; Goldman Sachs’ Principal Strategic Investments Group...
Boutique investment bank GP Bullhound has published a report on the fintech market identifying 39 global fintech unicorns valued at $1 billion or more and showing global venture capital investment into fintech at $13.6 billion in 2016; in its report the firm also identities a watch a list of 17 companies it expects to exceed $1 billion based on their growth, business models and market opportunity; numerous marketplace lenders are represented on the list including LendInvest, Prodigy Finance, ID Finance, Ebury and Kreditech. Source
Most well-known for his music career, Jay Z has also been investing in startups since 2012; the rapper has now reported he will launch a venture capital firm with partner Jay Brown of Roc Nation; Sherpa Capital will also help to launch the fund which will focus on seed-stage companies. Source
Fintech Global provides the top ten deals for the quarter; financing from the top ten deals was $658 million and accounted for 84% of the sector's total financing; Chinese P2P lender Tuandaiwang was the quarter's financing leader obtaining $262.6 million and was the only Asian fintech company in the top ten; Europe reported the majority of top ten financings with five funding deals. Source