Global fintech funding got off to a slower start during the first half of 2019, with $37.9 billion of investment globally across 962 deals. The first half of 2019 is trending downward at the halfway mark, reflecting a pull-back in mega-deals compared to 2018 according to the Pulse of Fintech H1'19, a bi-annual report on global fintech investment trends published by KPMG. 

Large M&A and buyouts accounted for the biggest deals to date in 2019, including a $6.9 billion buyout of Dun & Bradstreet in the US, a $6 billion buyout of Concardis in Germany, and a $1.3 billion buyout of France-based eFront. Other massive deals appear likely to close in the near future, including Fidelity's acquisition of Worldpay ($43 billion), Fiserv's acquisition of First Data ($22 billion), and the merger of Global Payments with Total System Services ($21.5 billion).

The diversity of jurisdictions attracting significant fintech funding continued to grow, with big deals during the first half of 2019 coming from France, Argentina, Canada, China, Germany, and the United States. The diversity of locations likely helped to keep fintech investment relatively strong despite the lack of large deals in any one jurisdiction. Fintech investors across jurisdictions remained focused on a smaller number of large deals, similar to investment trends seen more broadly.

“The introduction of open banking is emerging as a significant driver of fintech investment, along with the opportunities presented by technologies like machine learning and AI,” says Ian Pollari, Global Fintech Co-Leader, KPMG International. “We're seeing the growth of sectors like wealthtech and proptech, in addition to increasing participation from the big tech companies looking to leverage the deep customer information they have to expand their reach into financial services.”