Fintechs got over $2 bn in funding in H1

MUMBAI: Attracting a little over $2 billion in the first half this year, the domestic fintech sector has almost matched its total funding in the entire 2020, making it the best run ever, according to a report.

The record investments have been led by merchant platform Pinelabs’ $285 million from private equity funding round, $100 million venture capital funding rounds, Cred’s ($215 million),

Razorpay ($160 million), Kreditbee ($153 million), Ofbusiness ($110 million) and Bharatpe ($108 million), a KPMG report released on Wednesday said.

Most of the money has flown into the digital banking space and the second biggest was insurtech, wherein the first half saw several such startups, including Turtlemint ($46 million), Renewbuy ($45 million), and Digit Insurance ($18 million) raising funds from the mid-sized private equity and venture capital funds, it added.

According to the report, four of the top ten deals in Asia were into domestic companies during the period under review.

While the Noida-based Pinebabs’ $285 million was the thirdlargest in Asia, the $215 million in a Series D round by the Mumbai-based financial software firm Cred was the fourth largest in the continent. Bengalurubased payments app Razorpay’s raised $160 million in the series E round, making it the eighth largest, and lending app Kreditbee’s mopped up $153 million in series C round, the tenth-largest in Asia. The report, which did not give any sector-specific total numbers, also said the exits are going to increase in the country, both in terms of IPOS (Policybazaar has filed for a ₹6,500 crore issue), while Paytm has filed for a ₹16,500 crore issue, making it the largest-ever IPO in the country; and also in terms of acquisitions.

On the M&A front, fintechs could be targeted by banks, larger fintechs or even a fintech services conglomerate.