- Americas accounts for $63.8 billion in fintech funding in 2024, including $50.7 billion in US.
- Investment in payments space rises from $17.2 billion in 2023 to $31 billion in 2024.
- Global M&A deal value nearly doubles from $7.4 billion to $14.2 billion between Q3’24 and Q4’24.
2024 was another difficult year for fintech, with just $95.6 billion of investment globally across 4,639 deals. Both global fintech investment and the number of deals fell to levels not seen since 2017, according to the Pulse of Fintech H2’24—a bi-annual report published by KPMG highlighting fintech investment trends globally and in key jurisdictions around the world. The report is based on data provided by PitchBook Data Inc. A perfect storm of factors combined to soften investor appetite, including macroeconomic challenges, geopolitical conflicts and tensions, a year of elections in major jurisdictions, and concerns about valuations and the lack of exits.
The second half of the year was notably slower than the first, with investment falling from $51.7 billion in H1’24 to $43.9 billion in H2’24. A closer look at the results offered some optimism, however; between Q3’24 and Q4’24, global fintech investment rose from $18 billion to $25.9 billion. Both M&A deal value and VC investment also rose quarter-over-quarter, from $7.4 billion to $14.2 billion and from $9.7 billion to $11.2 billion, respectively.
Regionally, the Americas attracted the largest share of fintech investment in 2024—$63.8 billion across 2,267 deals, including $50.7 billion across 1,836 deals in the US. The EMEA region attracted $20.3 billion across 1,465 deals, while the ASPAC region saw $11.4 billion across 896 deals. At a sector level, the payments space attracted the largest share of investment ($31 billion), followed by digital assets and currencies ($9.1 billion), and regtech ($7.4 billion).
“It’s been a rough year for nearly everyone—fintechs, corporates, VC and PE firms—given the breadth of challenges and uncertainties in the global market. With only a handful of exceptions, no one wanted to pull the trigger on the largest deals—which have long been a mainstay in fintech investment,” said Karim Haji, Global Head of Financial Services, KPMG International. “But there’s a lot to be positive about heading into 2025. Many critical elections are behind us, and investment and deal activity is beginning to pick up. We are starting to see more deals coming through because of interest rate cuts in different jurisdictions and the lower cost of funding. However, we will have to wait and see if the changing world trading conditions impact inflation, interest rates and consequently these positive signs of market change.”
2024 Key Highlights
- Global fintech investment fell from $119.8 billion across 5,382 deals in 2023 to $95.6 billion across 4,639 deals in 2024.
- The Americas attracted $63.8 billion in fintech investment across 2,267 deals in 2024, of which the US accounted for $50.7 billion across 1,836 deals; the EMEA region attracted $20.3 billion across 1,4645 deals, while the ASPAC region attracted $11.2 billion across 896 deals.
- India accounted for the largest share of the total fintech investment in the ASPAC region at $4.1 billion.
- Global M&A deal value fell from $60.2 billion to $49.6 billion between 2023 and 2024; while H2’24 was softer than H1’24, M&A deal value rose from $7.4 billion to $14.2 billion between Q3’24 and Q4’24.
- PE investment declined significantly, falling from $10.5 billion in 2023 to just $2.6 billion in 2024, while VC investment saw a modest drop from $49.2 billion in 2023 to $43.4 billion in 2024.
- Payments was the strongest area of fintech investment globally in 2024, with $31 billion in investment compared to just $17.2 billion in 2023; other sectors that saw investment rise year-over-year included digital assets and currencies —from $8.7 billion to $9.1 billion, regtech—from $4.4 billion to $7.4 billion, proptech—from $1.9 billion to $3 billion, and wealthtech—from $190 million to $400 million.
- Corporate VC-participating investment globally fell from $26 .9 billion in 2023 to $19.6 billion in 2024; only the EMEA region saw corporate investment in VC deals rise—from $5.1 billion to $5.8 billion year-over-year. The Americas saw CVC drop from $13.8 billion to $9.9 billion, while ASPAC saw CVC investment drop from $8.0 billion to $3.9 billion.
Commenting on the report findings, Sanjay Doshi, Financial Services Advisory Leader KPMG in India, said “Fintech in India continues to attract the investors community especially with investments in wealth-tech and lending. Although, certain segments of fintech lending may face headwinds, overall industry continues to be a big innovator, contributor and more so an important business partner to large financial institutions.”
Payments continues to attract largest fintech tickets.
The payments sector continued to drive the largest share of fintech funding globally in 2024, accounting for $31 billion in investment—up from $17.2 billion in 2023. A large share of this investment was driven by consolidation and defensive plays rather than by companies looking to scale. H2’24 saw several other sizeable payments deals.
Digital assets and currencies beginning to see a resurgence.
The digital assets and currencies space attracted $9.1 billion in investment globally in 2024—the highest total ever outside of the outlier years of 2022 and 2023. A large share of this investment focused on digital market infrastructure, tokens, and digital assets. During H2’24, four of the five largest deals occurred in the Americas.
A sense of optimism for 2025
With interest rates declining in many jurisdictions and election uncertainties finally easing, there’s a cautious sense of optimism within the fintech market heading into 2025. The average time between deals has also lengthened significantly, from approximately fifteen months in 2022 to twenty-four months in 2025—the longest it has been in the last decade—which could make 2025 a critical year for deal-making as fintechs look to ensure their continued operations.
While the payments space will likely remain the biggest ticket of investment globally, digital assets and currencies are well positioned for an upswing in investment—particularly when it comes to market infrastructure, digital tokenization, and stablecoins. AI is also expected to remain a key priority for investors, with regtech and cybersecurity-related solutions likely to see the most interest in H1’25.
