By region, Singapore’s funding remained steady at US$1 bil, but deals decreased by 16% y-o-y. US saw a 40% funding drop, while the UK saw a 46% funding surge.

Funding for financial technology startups, or fintech, has fallen 20% y-o-y in round count and dollar value in 2024 to US$28 billion ($38.05 billion) according to S&P Global Market Intelligence in its Jan 21 release. 

However, S&P notes that in 4Q2024, funding rose 17% y-o-y to US$6.86 billion, even as the number of transactions fell 28% y-o-y to 333.

Mega rounds worth at least US$100 million “picked up slightly” in the latter half of the year with 31 deals compared to 24 in the first half of 2024. 

S&P Global Market Intelligence finds that many of the largest funding rounds are directed towards capital-intensive business models such as digital lending. This has attracted private equity firms, hedge funds and traditional financial institutions with expertise in credit and banking, rather than venture capitalists (VC) from Silicon Valley.

By region, Singapore’s funding remained steady at US$1 billion, though deals decreased by 16% y-o-y to 72. India’s funding was halved to US$1 billion, accompanied by an 8% y-o-y decline in transactions to 134..

Meanwhile, funding in the US dropped 40% y-o-y, falling from US$17 billion in 2023 to US$10 billion in 2024, with deal counts declining 17% y-o-y to 615. 

In contrast, the UK saw funding surge by 46% y-o-y to US$4 billion, despite a 19% y-o-y drop in deal volume to 160. Among other notable VC destinations, Brazil was the only market to exceed the US$1 billion mark, says the S&P report. 

By segment, the report finds that payments saw a “dramatic” 50% funding decline to US$7 billion y-o-y, with deals down 23% to 392, while banking technology doubled its funding to US$6 billion, despite a 22% y-o-y drop in transactions to 184. 

Insurance technology faced a 40% y-o-y drop in funding to US$3 billion, with deal counts falling 39% y-o-y to 187, and digital lending maintained US$6 billion in funding but saw a 27% y-o-y drop in transactions to 230.

Of all these, seed stage funding bore the brunt of the downturn, says S&P Global Market Intelligence, with deal counts plummeting 46% from 1,012 in 2023 to 547 in 2024. Early-stage funding fell 37% during the same period, while growth and mature stages dropped 34% and 26%, respectively. 

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s senior fintech research analyst Sampath Sharma Nariyanuri says that there are promising signs of recovery in 2025, with expectations of lower interest rates, coupled with recent funding momentum, pointing to a potential rebound. 

“A pipeline of high-profile fintech IPOs could inject much-needed liquidity into the ecosystem, sparking a renewed cycle of funding activity. As venture capital firms reassess their portfolios, we anticipate a shift toward underserved segments and regions, positioning fintech sectors and geographies that underperformed in 2024 for a comeback,” says Nariyanuri.