Venture capital investments in German financial technology companies are expected to fall for the first time ever in 2020, after booking a 29% year-over-year decline in the first nine months of that year, a study by German direct bank Comdirect shows.

Venture capital funds invested €953 million in German fintechs in the nine months to Sept. 30, 2020. This brings total venture capital investments in the sector since 2012 to over €6 billion, according to Comdirect data.

The number of new fintech startups that were launched in the first nine months of 2020 was also down year over year to 48, from 53 in the same period of 2019. However, the number was still above the five-year average for the first nine months of the year of 44, recorded since 2016, the data shows.

Overall, the German fintech sector has grown since the end of 2018, with the number of startups rising 19% since then.

The property technology and insurance technology segments have experienced the strongest growth in recent years and are among the top three in terms of number of startups, Comdirect said. Out of the 946 fintech startups operating in Germany, 203 are proptech companies, 189 are finance-focused businesses and 115 are insurtech, the bank said.