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Singapore has campaigned hard to get more investors to pump in funds into its growing fintech industry and it appears that those efforts are finally bearing fruit. Accenture Research released a report which showed that fintech investments jumped by 69 percent in the first 9 months of this year.
Currently, the total value of investments stands at $735 million which is a big improvement from last year which saw total investments of $435 million.
Interestingly, the number of fintech deals was lower this year but it still brought in a lot more investment. There were only 94 investment deals in the first 9 months of 2019 compared to 133 investment deals in 2018.
What really made the difference was that the fintech deals made in 2019 were a lot bigger. One of the reasons for the fewer deals in 2019 was due to the lack of startup opportunities.
CNA
Startups deals that required capital funds dropped by 46 percent in 2019 and angel investors only pumped in $54 million. Investors preferred to focus on established companies that were looking to expand. These businesses already proved they could deliver and now they wanted to get a bigger market share. Series funding investments were big this year as investors pumped in $442 million which amounted to a 66 percent increase when compared to 2018.
Another favourite of investors this year were payment startups and insurtech firm. Insurance, lending, and the payments market are booming industries in Singapore.
Singapore’s Fintech Future
Singapore is not resting on its laurels though. The small country plans to issue digital banking licenses in the future, which should open up another market for fintech investments.
In a statement, Sopnendu Mohanty, the chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore said,
Crossing a billion-Singapore-dollar investment threshold is recognition from investors around the world of the potential of Singapore’s fintech ecosystem and the outlook for digital financial services not just in Singapore, but also in South-east Asia.
Mohanty was happy to note that many local fintech startups were hitting it big and growing globally while international fintech companies are pouring money into their regional base in Singapore to expand more into the Asian market.
This is not the first time that Singapore has reported good news over its fintech investments. Earlier this year, Accenture Research also reported that fintech investments in Singapore nearly quadrupled in the first half of 2019 when compared to 2018.
