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During 2021, the global financial technology (fintech) sector reached an unprecedented figure regarding capital raising, obtaining resources for more than 140,000 million dollars in 3,415 agreements, according to the firm Financial Technology (FT) Partners.
According to the records of this firm, which punctually follows the context of the fintech ecosystem at a global level, the amount registered by the capital raising during 2021 exceeded by more than three times that achieved in 2020, when 45,700 million euros were obtained. dollars in 2,009 deals.
A few days ago, FTPartners released the first figures of the 2021 agreements, a dynamic year not only regarding the raising of venture capital, but also in terms of mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and special purpose acquisition companies ( SPACS, for its acronym in English) within the fintech ecosystem.
According to the firm, 2021 was also characterized by the amounts raised registered in the agreements. For example, during the previous year, there were 396 venture capital raising agreements for more than 100 million dollars, that is, a growth of 270% compared to those recorded in 2020.
However, this growth was not the most noticeable, since the capital raising rounds that exceeded 500 million dollars also registered a record, since during 2021 there were 36 agreements with these characteristics, that is, 350% more than a previous year.
“Digital banking services was the most active fintech sector for financing in 2021. The cryptocurrency sector experienced the highest growth, with total capital raised nine times higher than in 2020: the volume of capital for the cryptocurrency ecosystem! in 2021 it was higher than all previous years combined! ”stated Steve McLaughlin, Managing Partner of FTPartners, adding that full data will be released in the next few days.
By region, the fintech sector in North America (United States, Mexico and Canada) was the most dynamic globally in raising capital. During 2021 it achieved 1,585 agreements, while in Europe there were 828, in Asia 586 and in the rest of the world 416.
Some examples
Among the reports issued by FTPartners throughout 2021, important agreements were registered in terms of capital raising, such as that of the Robinhood firm, an investment application, which in February 2021 managed to finalize a round for 3.4 billion dollars, with the participation of funds such as Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, among others.
Also, in the same month, Klarna, a European platform for deferral of payments, managed to close an investment round for 1,000 million dollars. In the second quarter of 2021, the agreements reached by the payment processing platform Stripe, for 1,000 million dollars, and that of the German digital broker Trade Republic, which reached an agreement for 900 million dollars.
In the second quarter of 2021, Mexican firms also stood out in the global capital raising activity. In May last year, the cryptocurrency trading platform Bitso raised $ 250 million from funds such as Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Kaszek Ventures, among others, and achieved unicorn status by registering a valuation of more than $ 1 billion. of dollars.
In June 2021, the Clip platform, which works as a payment aggregator, obtained 250 million dollars from SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors and also achieved unicorn status.
fernando.gutierrez@eleconomista.mx
