Fintech Mega-Deals Lead to Record-Breaking $120 Billion Transaction Value in 1H 2019

• Fintech M&A deal volume reaches three-year high with 198 deals in 1H 2019, up from 164 in 2H2018
• Global venture capital investment in fintech achieves record-level in Q2 2019 with $10.9 billion raised*
 

London, UK – 20 August 2019. Three fintech mega-deals totalling $87 billion set the scene for a record-breaking $120 billion in disclosed transaction value for the sector in a ‘white-hot’ first half of 2019, reveals Hampleton Partners, in its latest global Fintech M&A Market Report.

Hampleton Partners, which specialises in international technology M&A and corporate finance, noted that all three of the top transactions were in the payments processing segment: Fidelity National Information Services acquired Worldpay for $43.6bn; Fiserv acquired First Data for $22bn and Global Payments acquired Total System Services for $21.2bn.

Hampleton’s report pointed to a revitalised M&A market since the slump in 2H2018, as well as an overall trend for larger deal sizes: 65 per cent of deals exceeded $100 million in 1H2019, compared to only 54 per cent in 2018 (disclosed deal values).

Jonathan Simnett, director and fintech specialist, Hampleton Partners, said: “The fintech M&A market is white-hot in Europe and North America. Financial businesses and institutions are increasingly open to adopting large-scale fintech in transaction processing or enterprise financial software, and as the financial services industry re-structures, competition for game-changing assets is increasing.”

Fundraising in fintech continues its record-breaking course. With 818 fundraises so far in 2019, the anticipated annualised figure of 1,636 would set a new annual record, narrowly beating those figures recorded in 2017 (1,632) and in 2016 (1,633). Furthermore, excluding the Ant Financial deal of June 2018, Q2 2019 recorded the most fintech fundraising ever with $10.9 billion raised.

All this confirms that, while they seem to be gradually multiplying in number, fintech funding rounds in North America and Europe are becoming larger. However, Asia is not currently sharing the same level of fundraising success, with fundraise count and value stagnating.

Excluding the three mega-deals in payments processing, enterprise financial software remained the largest fintech sub-sector, with over 75 per cent of remaining disclosed deal value and just under 50 per cent of all deal volume - 98 deals.

Significant deals in Enterprise Financial Software included Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of Ellie Mae, a provider of mortgage loan origination, for $3.7 billion, making it the fourth largest transaction of 1H2019, at 7.5x EV/S.

As challengers use their agility to attract new customers, legacy players are forced to acquire the necessary technology to compete. Investors and acquirers will tend towards targets that focus on automation via disruptive technology, such as real-time payment processing technology; AI chatbots (expected to save banks $7.3 billion annually by 2023); and mobile banking, as in-person branch visits are set to fall 36 per cent between 2017 and 2021.

Challenger banks like Chime, OakNorth or N26 will also continue to grow, whilst regtech is on the rise, allowing firms to stay compliant through cloud-based platforms and machine learning.

Meanwhile, blockchain utilisation continues to spread through collaborative platforms like Bitpay with Visa.

Jonathan Simnett concluded: “The heat is being applied to fundraising, auguring well for future large-scale fintech exits. 2Q2019 proved to be the largest quarter ever for fintech fundraising, with Europe already exceeding its 2018 annual record. As Europe and North America power ahead of the currently moribund Asian fintech fundraising market, we expect this to yield several large-scale fintech M&A transactions in the future.”

Jane Henry
Email: jane@marylebonemarketing.com
Mob: +44 789 666 8155
www.marylebonemarketing.com 

Note to editors
* Excluding Ant Financial’s €14 billion round in June 2018.

Hampleton Partners’ Fintech M&A Market Report 2H 2019 is compiled using data and information from the 451 Research database (www.451research.com); from CapitalIQ, a product of S&P Global; Bloomberg; Financial Technology Partners; Juniper Research; and The Financial Brand. 

Download the full Hampleton Partners Fintech M&A Market Report: https://www.hampletonpartners.com/reports/fintech-report/

Hampleton Partners is at the forefront of international mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance advisory for companies with technology at their core. Hampleton’s experienced deal makers have built, bought and sold over 100 fast-growing tech businesses and provide hands-on expertise and unrivalled advice to tech entrepreneurs and companies which are looking to accelerate growth and maximise value.

With offices in London, Frankfurt and San Francisco, Hampleton offers a global perspective with sector expertise in: Automotive Technology, IoT, AI, Fintech, Hi-Tech Industrials & Industry 4.0, Cybersecurity, VR/AR, Healthtech, Digital Marketing, Enterprise Software, SaaS & Cloud and eCommerce.

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