In addition to our quarterly FinTech Report, we did a deep-dive for the payment sector and analyzed relevant deals, drivers like consumer evolution and the global scale of the market, investment activities, valuations and the often discussed consolidation in a highly fragmented market.
Our key takeaways:
- Payments M&A has grown to represent over 50% of overall FinTech M&A activity, increasing from 17% in Q3 2021 to 59% in Q3 2023. Key drivers are technological advancements, big tech players entering the market and a highly fragmented payment market
- After a continued decline in payment funding activity, investor appetite is starting to pick up again in Q3 2023 with $9.5bn so far vs. $3.8bn in Q2 2023.
- As investors increasingly focus on profitability, later-stage investments are dominating.
- Valuations in the payment sector have come down significantly amid rising cost of capital and economic uncertainty, fueling further M&A activity.
- The top 10 strategic and financial consolidators in the payment industry focus their acquisitions on Europe and the US. Key targets are payment processing, money transfer and B2B payment solutions.
- As the payment market continues to grow, an ever-larger number of payment companies are fueling the next wave of consolidation
We also interviewed Karan Mehta, who is the Chief Financial Officer at technology infrastructure provider Cross River to get some more first-hand insights about the transformative potential of technologies, the evolution of the fintech landscape and risks in the industry.
For more detailed information on the findings above as well as access to the full interview, click below for the PDF:
