In 2023 levels of global investment in FinTech decreased amid economic slowdown

The total capital invested into FinTech globally reached $51.2 billion in 2023, a decrease of 48% compared to 2022, when total investment amounted to $99 billion. The capital invested in FinTech in 2023 was spread across 3,973 deals compared to 6,397 deals in 2022.

Overall, the US received the most investment in 2023, bringing in over $24 billion in FinTech capital across 1,530 deals, with the UK firmly in second place with $5.1 billion, rounded off by India with $2.5 billion, Singapore with $2.2 billion and China with $1.8 billion. In 2023 the UK received more investment in FinTech than the next 28 European countries combined.

The $5.1 billions in investment received by UK based FinTechs were spread across 409 deals compared to $14.6 billion across 592 deals in 2022, a decrease of 65% from 2022. This decrease is in line with many other Top 10 markets. The US, for instance, saw a decrease in investment by 44% from 2022. London continues to be a leading global FinTech investment hub with $4.5 billion received in 2023, down 56% from 2022. The global slowdown comes with some exceptions including the UAE, which recorded an increase in investment of 92% from 2022.

Some countries have witnessed notable drops in investment in 2023 including France, Germany and India, with France and Germany falling down the global rankings with drops in investment of 56% and 66% respectively from 2022. Other countries, on the other hand, have jumped in the ranking, including UAE from 24th to 6th position and Hong Kong from 27th to 9th position.

The value of the top 5 biggest deals globally in 2023 was over $9 billion or 19% of total global investment into FinTechs, with Stripe receiving $6.9 billion, the largest investment in 2023. The other four largest deals from highest to lowest were Rapyd, Xpansiv, BharatPe and Ledger. Of these, Rapyd occurred in the UK.

Across the data analysed, Innovate Finance identified 59 deals that took place in 2023 netting $536 million dollars deployed into female-led FinTechs, which represents 10.5% of the UK total of $5.1 billion dollars, a step forward for women founders/leaders.

Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance:

While economic headwinds presented a significant challenge for FinTechs globally in 2023, it is encouraging to see how the UK FinTech sector has shown great resilience by maintaining its position as a global hub for investment, second in the world behind only the US, and maintaining the leading position in Europe.

The data demonstrates a clear opportunity for UK FinTechs to strengthen ties with rapidly growing markets in Asia - many of which entered the global Top 10 for the first time, and saw more combined investment than the European counterparts. The UK’s mature FinTech sector is well placed to develop stronger collaboration with the region, and create new commercial and scaling opportunities.

We remain confident the momentum of high-profile deals we saw in Q4 will continue well into 2024, as we anticipate a boost to the wider market. We are focused on working with industry, government and regulators, to maintain the UK’s leadership and ensure the necessary support, including proactive regulation, is in place for the UK to attract investment from seed stage to higher levels of critical growth funding.

Bim Afolami MP:

UK fintech is a real British success story and it is reassuring to see the UK retain its place attracting more funding than any other country bar the US.

What's more, UK fintech firms won twice as much investment as our next competitor and more than the next 28 European countries combined, demonstrating our appeal as a leading global fintech hub.

This is not happening by accident – we’ve introduced a fast-track visa system to attract global talent to fintech scale ups, a FCA scale box allowing innovators to trial new products and reformed our listings regime to maintain the UK’s position as Europe’s dominant capital markets hotspot.