Fintech Funding Reaches New Highs

As of this writing, the fintech industry has received a record $91.5 billion in worldwide investment, which is about double what the sector received in 2020. More than a quarter of a million dollars worth of fintech unicorns were born in the third quarter alone, according to the State of Venture Q3'21 Report from CB Insights.

"Until recently, the way it worked has been constant for decades," says Satya Patel, co-founder and general partner of venture capital company Homebrew, "financial services is one of the biggest sectors on the globe." "As a result, conventional financial services players are failing to meet the needs of large portions of the public. "Fintech is altering all of that by reducing prices, expanding accessibility, and enhancing the user experience for financial goods and services."

In the third quarter, the CB Insights study showed that Tiger Global Management and Coinbase Ventures top the pack of fintech investors. There were 38 percent of worldwide fintech agreements last quarter, with the United States leading Asia with a 26 percent stake. 

It's possible that in certain markets the internet is a winner-takes-all situation. However, Sheel Mohnot, general partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, who has been investing in seed-stage fintech for six years, believes that this isn't always the case.

Fintech businesses accounted for one-third of all unicorns created in the most recent quarter. FTX, Revolut, Chime, and Kavak raised a total of $3.2 billion in fundraising in the third quarter, making them the most successful startups in the category. A financial unicorn is "very soon" to appear in any nation with a population greater than 100 million, according to Mohnot.

There were 723 departures from the fintech industry in 2018, up 25 percent from the previous year and more than double what there were five years ago, according to the research.

What Does The Future Hold For Fintech?

Bankers and traders relied on financial technology for back-office assistance. Only a little amount of money was put into this industry by VCs. There were few public corporations in the sector that could be likened to Silicon Valley darlings.

However, a sea shift has occurred. The amount of money invested in fintech has increased dramatically over the previous decade, as has the proportion of private venture capital invested. In the innovation economy, fintech has found a home, and it has developed to the point that it is impossible to distinguish hype from reality. Numerous digital symptoms have become popular buzzwords in the trade press over the past few years, including chatbots, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchains, and crypto-assets.

Corporate venture arms and digital incubators have been established by large multinational banks, who are investing in, acquiring, or duplicating the solutions of start-ups. With hundreds of millions of users and integrated financial services, Eastern technology enterprises have surpassed the capabilities of Western-regulated countries. Tech companies in the United States delved deep into the regulatory minefield to discover methods to provide financial goods without tripping over the regulatory third rail.

The world of finance is far more straightforward than most people imagine. Banks retain deposits with interest rates, investment managers create investment funds, and lenders and insurers underwrite some client risk with capital, all of which are examples of factories where items are manufactured. Then there are the places where the product is sold, such as bank branches, financial counselors, insurance agents, or loan officers.

Regulation and industry norms weave a web of human, financial, and software value chains between these two extremes. In the end, however, customers go to a shop and purchase financial items there and there.

The whole value chain is being digitized. Consumer connections in the front office are shifting from face-to-face encounters to phone calls. Neobanks like Revolut in Europe, Robo-advisors like Betterment in the United States, and insurtechs like Ping An in Asia are just a few examples.

The assessment, onboarding, and customer service processes are all being automated to the nth degree. Rather than allowing consumers to communicate with a live person, more speculative interfaces utilize machine learning and natural language processing to produce conversation and voice.

Final Thoughts

The massive vertical rivalry has arisen as a consequence of such basic automation, as different industrial sectors pivot to package and cross-sell their services. Digital lenders and digital payment apps are now fighting for the opportunity to provide customers with the finest digital bank accounts.

For the possibility to serve the presently unprofitable Millennial client, investors like Softbank have invested billions of dollars in direct-to-consumer fintech startups.

Millions of tiny accounts are the customers of many mobile applications. Most long-term investors are doubtful that the economics of these ventures would succeed and provide a return on their initial investment.

Digital point solutions are a good starting point, but our fintech journey does not end there.

You don't go to the Aspirin shop to get Aspirin if you have a headache. With hundreds of goods available at your local supermarket or pharmacy, it's easy to find what you need. E-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay have hundreds of thousands of options available to their customers.