As every year, the France Fintech association unveils the eagerly awaited figure of total amount of fundraising carried out in the field of fintech (French start-ups in finance, insurance and legal matters). With a total accumulated at 2.273 billion euros, this is the first year that French fintech has raised so much money … + 174% compared to 2020.
Ledger, Alan, Shift Technology and Swile top the table
It must be said that there have been very large fundraisers this year in the world of fintech. We obviously think of Ledger, Alan, Shift Technology or even Swile which are among the biggest fundraisers in the sector. With Lydia, these five companies are the new unicorns of fintech. According to France Fintech, in 2021 there were 93 fundraising events. The average transaction amount is said to have increased by 86% compared to last year’s average, reaching 24.4 million euros.
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? Annual report on fundraising France FinTech & @Bpifrance : The #fintech ?? record another record year and position themselves as the spearhead of the #tech French!
Companies in the sector raised € 2.3 billion in 93 operations (+ 174% compared to 2020). pic.twitter.com/MZrY6w3P38– France FinTech (@FranceFintech) December 28, 2021
According to France Fintech, “2021 will once again have seen a strong acceleration in French fintech”. Among the 93 fundraisers carried out this year by French fintech companies, seven even exceeded 100 million euros. It was Ledger who won the prize for the biggest round with a round of funding of 335 million euros. The start-up raised during the first half of the year and is even one of the biggest raises of the year, all sectors combined, just behind Contentsquare with 408 million euros.
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In short, French fintech attracts investors. Not just any investors … No, according to France Fintech, more and more foreign investors from outside Europe rely on French players. US funds are very present, alongside the Japanese giant Softbank, which has chosen to invest in Swile. In the European ranking, France remains in 3rd place but is getting closer to Germany (3.6 billion euros). We are still very far behind the United Kingdom where the total amount of fundraising in the field of fintech is 8.3 billion euros.
Neo-banking players are driving the growth of fintech. Indeed, N26 has raised 786 million euros this year in Germany and Revolut 679 million euros in the United Kingdom, after having already raised 500 million euros in 2020 … In France, Qonto could well do the same in the coming months. In early 2020, the Chinese Tencent had already entered the capital of the French start-up with a fundraising of 104 million euros, but a bigger round of funding is expected for 2022. Nothing confirmed yet.