Singapore achieves highest fintech funding in three years

(Photo for illustration: KPMG)

2022’s total deal value here saw a 22% increase, up from 3.4 billion USD in 2021, and a 75% increase from 2020’s total deal value of 2.3 billion USD.

The 2022 figure is also the second highest fintech investment achieved by Singapore in the past decade, after investments peaked at 5.62 billion USD in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Singapore’s 2022 positive showing comes against the backdrop of falling global fintech investment which dropped to 164.1 billion USD.

The top three areas of fintech investment in the island state were crypto/blockchain, followed by payments and finally wealthtech.

However, despite being one of the top funded segments, crypto and blockchain funding in Singapore did decline by 21% from 1.5 billion USD in 2021 to 1.2 billion USD in 2022.

The Terra (Luna) crash in mid-2022, bankruptcy of crypto hedge company Three Arrows Capital in July and the FTX bankruptcy in November contributed to this decline.

KPMG predicts that the investment in crypto-focused firms will remain very slow into the first half of this year as investors enhance their due diligence and governance processes.

Source: VNA