Pulse of Fintech H2 2021 – EMEA

Total fintech investment in the EMEA region grew to a record $77 billion in 2021, driven in part by significant M&A activity. While many of the largest deals in EMEA occurred in H1’21 – including the $14.8 billion acquisition of Refinitiv by the London Stock Exchange and the $1billion funding round of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) specialist Klarna, making it the highest valued private Fintech in Europe – H2’21 saw the $9.2 billion acquisition of Denmark-based payments processor Nets by Italy-based Nexi and the $929 million acquisition of foreign exchange payments platform CurrencyCloud by Visa. 

VC investment in fintech skyrocketed in the EMEA region during 2021 – more than tripling from it’s previous high of $9.9 billion in 2020. H2’21 saw numerous jurisdictions across the region raise $100 million+ megarounds, including lesser known fintech ecoystems like Nigeria ($400 million – Opay), Gibraltar ($400 million – Bullish Global), Iceland ($344 million – SaltPay), Denmark ($350 million – Pleo), and Austria ($263 million – Bitpanda), South Africa ($120 million – JUMO), and Ghana ($100 million – MFS Africa). 

The payments space was incredibly hot across the EMEA region, with deals ranging from the $9.2 billion acquisition of Nets by Nexi to a $400 million raise by OPay in Nigeria – which earned the company unicorn status; the raise was also the largest single round raised by a startup in Africa ever¹.

2021 saw a significant amount of VC funding flow to digital banks, with the lions share going to mature challenger banks in Europe – including a $900 million raise by N26 and an $800 million raise by Revolut in the second half of the year. H2’21 did throw some wrenches into the space as both N26 and Monzo bank decided to forgo the US market – primarily as a result of regulatory complexity. Profitability also continued to be a challenge – which could lead to some consolidation in the digital banking space longer term.

During 2021, a number of fintech players have shifted their focus from traditional finance offerings to the provision of embedded finance services and embedded insurtech services. This is driving a number of partnerships in the space, such as between Aion Bank, Temenos, and Vodeno², or Qover and Monese³. 

Investor interest in cryptocurrencies is growing in the EMEA region, particularly in jurisdictions like Portugal and Germany which have clear regulations. In 2021, Coinbase established its European headquarters in Germany; it also became the first company to get approved for crypto custody by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFinn). French startup Sorare that offers a platform for trading football NFTs raised $680 million sending its valuation to $4.3 billion, highlighting accelerated market interest for this new fintech space.

• Increasing investment in decentralised finance and a stronger push for the development of a common regulatory framework for crypto 
• Finctechs looking to expand their footprint across the EU—and beyond
• Growing fintech deal sizes in the Middle East and Africa – primarily in the payments space
• Increasing interest in B2B fintech solutions and business models
• Increasing focus on IPO opportunities as investors in mature fintechs look to exit 

VC investment soars and M&A makes a big comeback.

Download this edition for:

• global and regional analysis with key investment data and insights
• top fintech trends for 2022 and beyond
• interviews with Quantexa and Thought Machine
• fintech segment insights for a deeper dive into payments, insurtech, regtech, wealthtech, cybersecurity, blockchain and cryptocurrency
• spotlight articles on emerging markets: LATAM and Africa.

To learn more about the analysis and topics raised in this edition, or to discuss your organization's unique fintech agenda and roadmap, please contact your local KPMG advisors or the contributors in this publication.