March brought significant growth in the fintech sector, confirming the positive trend that started at the beginning of the year. Both the number and value of financing transactions increased. A total of 174 financing events were recorded, up 13% compared to February.
The total value of financings increased significantly, with a total of $9.1 billion in capital raised or loan agreements signed by fintechs, almost three times the previous month’s figure. The average value of agreements also increased substantially from the previous month. For capital raises, the value of funding doubled compared to February, with fintechs raising a total of $2 billion in capital in the month. Monzo, a UK neobank, raised $430 million in the largest fundraising round. The total value of loan deals also increased compared to February, reaching $7.1 billion, triple the previous month’s figure. This increase was supported by 3 megadeals by BlackRock, Coinbase, and SoFi.
The M&A (mergers and acquisitions) market, after a downturn since August last year, strengthened at the beginning of the year, a trend that continued in March. The number of acquisitions in this period was 10 percent higher than in March 2023.
Crypto is still on the rise
The price of bitcoin has reached an all-time high: on 14 March, the crypto’s price reached $73,750, which brought the market capitalization of bitcoin to $1.44 billion. The largest cryptocurrency has broken its previous high of $68 789, which was set in November 2021.
Merchants in focus
March also brought a number of developments in merchant payments. Stripe’s payment turnover surpassed $1 trillion. Visa and Mastercard are being forced to limit the debit and credit card fees they charge US merchants. Two fintech giants – Revolut and PayPal – and a world-renowned software company, SAP, announced major product innovations for the SME sector.
Challenge after challenge in the world of BaaS
For many months now, there have been reports of new regulatory investigations in the US against banks and fintech companies involved in BaaS. In March, Piermont Bank and Sutton Bank were both taken to task by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation over their partners’ shortcomings.
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.
(Source: Peak)
(Cover photo: Depositphotos)