Asian fintech deal sizes dwarfed U.S. deal sizes in 2015, a new report from KPMG and CB Insights shows.
Global fintech funding skyrocketed in 2014 and 2015, but tapered off in the fourth quarter of 2015, with the implication that 2016 won’t be so sweet, according to the report.
But yesterday’s Ant Financial $3.1 billion funding shows that, at least for the Asian market, funding is not slackening in the new year. And indeed, Asian funding has played a major role throughout, taking 5 of the top 10 fundings in 2015. Asian companies accounted for $4.5 billion of the $13.8 billion raised globally last year. The U.S. took in $7.4 billion of that, but average takes were on the decline as 2015 came to a close. In Q415, “funding fell 64% amid a drop in $100M+ round activity versus the previous quarter, while deal activity fell 7%,” the report said.
Asia’s $4.5 billion was only 130 deals, for an average deal size of $34.6 million, while the U.S. total was for 378 deals, or an average of $19.6 million per deal. With the Ant mega-funding skewing the data in 2016, this trend can be expected to continue this year.
The report also noted that bitcoin/blockchain-related investments matured in 2014 and 2015, reaching later rounds, and that so-called unicorns predominated among payments and lending companies — 74% of early stage companies valued at $1 billion or more were in these two spaces.
Citigroup led all banks in investment in venture-backed fintech companies with 13. It was followed by Goldman Sachs (10), JPMorgan Chase (5), Morgan Stanley (3), Wells Fargo (3), Bank of America (2), and Credit Suisse (2).
The report highlighted several fintech exits in 2014 and 2015 (Lending Club, Square, OnDeck, Shopify) while noting those IPOs have not yet resulted in notable successes as public companies.