Global funding in the fintech sector has fallen to its lowest level since 2017, according to newly published research.
The Q1 2024 State of Venture Report by CB Insights showed that investment in fintechs declined by 16% in the first three months of the year.
The figures show an alarming contrast to the opening quarters for the previous two years. In 2023, $16 billion of funding went into 1,271 fintech startups. And in Q1 2022, $32.9 billion was invested in 2,026 fintech startups.
Furthermore, the $7.3bn raised by startups in Q1 2024 was the lowest figure since early 2017.
The largest fundraise of the quarter was the $430m raised by Monzo, followed by the $260m deal for Flexport, a provider of trade finance and cargo insurance.
Companies based in the US enjoyed the bulk of the funding with $3.3bn raised across 393 deals, beating the $2.2bn raised in 203 deals for European companies.
The report did show a 15% increase in equity deal making during Q1, however, while there were 904 deals, the average deal size did fall.
Meanwhile, the quarter saw 19 new unicorns spread across the US, Asia, and Europe, down slightly from 23 in the previous quarter.