08/02/22

SINGAPORE: Fintech Scales New Peak, according to new report.

As published on finews.asia, Tuesday 8 February, 2022.

Deals in the city-state surge to record levels, says KPMG.

Singapore fintech deals jumped by 59 percent in value last year to $3.94 billion dollars, a KPMG "Pulse of FinTech" report for the second half said.

The total comprised all venture capital, private equity, and M&A transactions.

The deal count for 2021 also rose to a record 191 fintech transactions. This was up 37 percent from a year earlier and almost double (91 percent higher) 2019’s count, the consultancy said in a press release.

KPMG attributed the surge in Singapore’s deals to the city-state’s measures to boost the capital market, such as its creation of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listing framework in order to attract fast-growing startups and unicorns interested in going public.

"One significant deal involved Singapore tech group, Grab, which listed a SPAC deal in the United States at US$500 million, resulting in a post-money valuation of $39.6 billion that made it among the top four fintech investments in Asia Pacific in 2021," KPMG said.

"Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are expected to remain very hot areas of investment in 2022, with more crypto firms looking to regulators to provide clear guidance on activities in order to help foster and develop the space. In Singapore, the surge in investments into crypto and blockchain have also outpaced that of payments which long held the top spot here," said Anton Ruddenklau, global fintech leader at KPMG International, said in the statement.

Singapore posted investments in payments of $628.41 million in 2021, lower than cryptocurrency and blockchain-related investments, but still up more than nine-fold from $60 million in 2020, KPMG said.

Within Asia-Pacific, fintech funding reached $27.5 billion in 2021, significantly more than 10 percent of the global total of $210 billion.

Singapore also posted all-time highs in crypto and blockchain investments, with $1.48 billion being parsed out across 82 deals in 2021, up from $109.75 million over 26 deals in 2020, KPMG said.