After a surge in March, total funding value in April fell back to the levels seen around the start of the year. With $5.2 billion, it was nearly half of the previous month’s total ($9.1 billion). Despite this, the average value of equity financing continued to rise and was well above the 12-month moving average at $17.2 billion.
In the largest fundraising round Rippling raised $200 million – a company offering an integrated HR and IT automation platform to its clients. Capital market activity this month was also characterized by a number of smaller financings.
From an M&A perspective, the trend seen so far in 2024 is continuing. Following the positive trend seen last month, in April there was a big jump in the 12-month moving average. Acquisitions were now 61% higher than in April 2023. We have seen almost the most successful month of the previous 12 months – with the sole exception of August, 2023.
Crypto-product development on the rise
With the strong performance of bitcoin and the crypto market, fintech companies have increased their focus on cryptocurrency-related product development in April. PayPal has introduced a stablecoin solution for international payments, Nubank has added crypto wallet capabilities to its app, and Stripe is introducing stablecoin payments to its rich payments ecosystem.
Media market expansion
In April, both a large incumbent bank and a fintech star opened towards the media market. JPMorgan Chase has unveiled its new media business, Chase Media Solutions, and Revolut has announced that it will start building its personalised marketing capabilities. Data-driven, personalised marketing is a high-potential use case for leveraging the vast amount of data that have accumulated in financial firms.
Telecoms and fintech in the spotlight
According to market reports, Nubank is entering the telecoms sector. The move would follow similar ambitions of Revolut and Western Union. These major financial players are not building new revenue streams independently of their existing strategy and brand – with their telecom offerings, they are further enriching their value proposition, which is already a key element in meeting customer needs.
Don’t forget to check out our brand new video in which we examine the fintech sector’s performance more thoroughly.
Disclaimer: the below video was made using artificial intelligence.
(Cover photo: Depositphotos)