Global Fintech Trends

Key Findings

• Of the top 10 tech exits in 2021, four were in Fintech: Coinbase, Nubank, Robinhood, and One97 Communications.
• 2021 was a record year for Series A Fintech fundraising across the globe, with total deal amounts in Africa increasing almost 900% from 2020, North America up nearly 250%, and Latin American up nearly 200%.
• Africa saw 10x growth in Series A funding amount in Fintech from 2020 to 2021.
• Of the 200 Fintech unicorns created between 2017 and 2021, 138 achieved unicorn status in 2021.
• $287 billion was collectively raised across 534 Fintech exits in 2021.
• In H1 2022, the count of Series A deals is -27% in comparison to H1 2021 and -17% in comparison to H1 2020.
• The count of Series B+ deals in H1 2022 is -12% in comparison to H1 2021, although H1 2022 was up 55% from H1 2020, indicating that 2021 levels were a pandemic-related peak.
• 2021 was a record year for tech startups, and as is normal during record years, inflation was high — valuations calculated in terms of revenue multiples for late-stage funding and exit deals shot up 50% globally compared to 2020. Fintech saw an even higher level of inflation in late-stage funding deals during H1 2022 than in 2021, with revenue multiples increasing another 37%, reaching 104% above H1 2021 and more than 3x H2 2019.

In 2020, we observed that “digital-only banking clearly is on the rise; including by adding new services such as wealth management as well as broader service bundles.” This proved true, and the growth of neobanks and digital payments was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such technology has seen particularly rapid uptake in emerging economies, improving financial inclusion and helping to accelerate innovation.

However, Fintech expert Fabian Vandenreydt predicts that consolidation in digital banking will change the landscape, telling us “A lot of the payment companies will either disappear or will merge among themselves, or will be acquired by either financial institutions, bigger technology companies in payments, or possibly, private equity. I don't think there will be less capital, but I think it will be deployed at different points and differently.”

The pandemic-driven boom of online shopping and low interest rates of recent years helped to drive the success of “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) startups, which were able to raise funds at low cost and offer easy–to-access loans to online consumers. Stockholm-founded Klarna is a leader in this area of consumer finance, accounting for the three highest deal amounts in BNPL startups in 2021–H2 2022. As interest rates increase and many countries are facing increased costs of living, this model may soon see declining deal values.

Cryptocurrency has also exploded since our last Fintech report. 2021 saw record highs in the value of crypto leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum, before huge industry-wide drops occurred in the first quarter of 2022, the so-called crypto winter. NFTs also made the headlines in 2021, with sales of digital ownership of intangible items reaching $25 billion — up from almost $95 million the year before — according to DappRadar, which provides insights on decentralized applications. “NFT” was even named Word of the Year 2021 by Collins Dictionary, further highlighting the technology’s move into the mainstream.

Inflation for crypto deals has been even higher than for the one documented for Tech overall in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 (GSER 2022). Both crypto and NFTs have volatile market value and there’s much speculation about what their futures will look like, with some anticipating that the novelty of the latter in particular will soon fade. However, it’s clear that such financial tools are increasingly becoming mainstream, with governments worldwide considering whether to regulate the crypto industry and how best to do so.

Funding & Investment

Of the top 10 global tech exits in 2021, four were Fintechs: Coinbase at $86 billion, nubank at $42 billion, Robinhood at $32 billion, and One97 Communications at $16.8 billion. Together, they made up around 61% of the $287 billion total value of 534 global Fintech exits. Additionally, the top 21 exits in Fintech in 2021 were IPOs — making up the top 3% of all exits in 2021. This indicates that retail investors are excited about the sub-sector and see growth potential. However, this flurry of exits generated large amounts of “dry powder” (unspent funds earmarked for investment) that are likely to influence the investment climate going forward.

In 2022, Fintech exits are down from these highs — H1 2022 has seen a decline of 23% in deal count compared to H1 2021. Exit value in H1 2022 is down 92% compared to H1 2021, a reflection of two huge exits taking place in H1 2021: Coinbase at $86 billion and BNPL startup Affirm at $15 billion. The ​top Fintech exits for 2022 so far are all mergers and acquisitions — Wyre at $1.5 billion, Wealthfront at 1.4 billion, and Technisys at $1.1 billion — due to stock markets that are unfavorable to IPOs.

Between 2017 and the end of 2021, 200 Fintech unicorns were created globally — an impressive 138 achieved unicorn status in 2021. This indicates 6.5x growth from the number of Fintech unicorns created in 2020. North America produced the majority of Fintech unicorns created between 2017 and the end of 2021 at 49%, followed by 22% in Europe and 19% in Asia. Africa (excluding MENA) has produced three unicorns to date, all in Fintech and all in 2021.

2021 was an impressive year for Series A Fintech fundraising across the globe, with total Series A deal amount in Africa increasing almost 900% from 2020, North America up nearly 250%, and Latin American up nearly 200%. Africa saw 10x growth in Series A funding amount in Fintech from 2020 to 2021. Huge deals including PalmPay’s $100 million and Kuda’s $25 million Series A rounds contributed to Africa’s record-breaking year. Latin America also saw a particularly steep rise in Series A deal count.


Series A deal size has seen a 20% decline in H1 2022 compared to H2 2021 and is at almost the same level as H1 2021. The global count of Series A deals is -27% in H1 2022 in comparison to H1 2021 and -17% in comparison to H1 2020, with Q2 2022 dropping 41% from Q1 2022. However, the number of Series A deals continued to rise in Latin America, MENA, North America, and Oceania in 2021. Turning to global Series B+ deal count, H2 2022 was 12% lower than the record high achieved in H1 2021.



As discussed in the GSER 2022, 2021 was a record year for tech startups. As is normal during record years, inflation was high — valuations calculated in terms of revenue multiples for late-stage funding and exit deals shot up 50% globally compared to 2020. Surprisingly, the Fintech sub-sector saw an even higher level of inflation in late-stage funding deals during H1 2022 than in 2021. Revenue multiples increased 37% from H2 2021 to H1 2022. This means that the H1 2022 level of inflation was 104% above H1 2021 and more than 3x H2 2019.