More venture capitalists globally sought deals in Asia-Pacific digital lenders in the first quarter, shifting from a preference for payments companies, as upstart lenders endured a pandemic expected to be riddled with bad loans.
Funding for companies in the digital lending sector, which was negatively impacted by the pandemic, increased to 52 deals in the first quarter, up from 38 in the first quarter of 2021, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows. In comparison, payments, which gained a lot of funding during the pandemic, saw 39 deals in the first quarter, up from 35 in the prior-year quarter, but down from 54 deals in the third quarter of 2021.
Fundraising in the quarter
One of the largest fundraising rounds of the quarter was that of Oxyzo Financial Services Pvt. Ltd., a company that lends to small and medium-sized enterprises in India. It raised $200 million in its series A round in March. The financing round included U.S.-based Tiger Global Management LLC, the largest investor in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter with 13 transactions.
Other notable digital lending companies that received funding were Singapore-based Funding Societies Pte. Ltd., which also caters to SMEs, India-based Credavenue Pvt. Ltd. and Indonesia-based Streetcorner Lending Corp., also known as the buy-now, pay-later company Akulaku.
An uncertain macroeconomic environment, such as rising interest rates and stock market declines, is expected to impact fundraising for Asia-Pacific financial technology companies in the coming quarters, according to a May 12 research report by Market Intelligence. Although fundraising may experience a cooling, investments into mature fintechs may remain attractive to venture capitalists to offset some of the drop in funding, the report said.
Popular fintech segments
As seen in the first quarter, global investors still have a strong preference for fintech companies specializing in investment and capital markets technology such as blockchain, internet of things and artificial intelligence, funding 60 deals in the period, compared with 50 in the prior-year quarter.
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency company Amber Technologies Ltd. received $200 million in a series B round in the first quarter. Temasek Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. led the fundraising, which included Tiger Global Management, Sequoia China Investment Management LLP and U.S.-based Coinbase Ventures.
Overall private funding received by Asia-Pacific fintechs declined 26% quarter over quarter to $3.33 billion, although this surpassed first-quarter deals and volumes over the past three years.
Most active investors
The U.S., the largest source of investments in Asia-Pacific financial technology companies at 194 companies in the first quarter, has helped fund the early rounds of budding household online lenders around the region. Six U.S.-based entities invested in more than four deals in the first three months of 2022.
India-based investors were a distant second in providing funding to fintechs in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2022. Sequoia Capital India Advisors Pvt. Ltd. contributed to the funding of Funding Societies and Singapore-based digital bank Tonik Financial Pte. Ltd.
India was also the largest recipient of fintech funding for the region in the first quarter. Merchant commerce company Pine Labs Pvt. Ltd., Oxyzo and Credavenue collectively raised $542 million, representing 38% of the total funding of $1.42 billion raised in India.
Celeste Goh contributed to the article.