Big deals are masking tough times for Australian fintechs
Fintech investment in Australia climbed in 2024, according to KPMG. But under the headline figures, deal volume is shrinking and startups are struggling.
The latest Pulse of Fintech report from KPMG indicates some encouraging headline news for Australia. In the second half of 2024, the country recorded $1.1 billion in fintech investments across 43 deals — “a material improvement from the prior year".
KPMG suggested that 2023, which saw just $839 million in total investment, may have marked the low point. But then there’s the fine print. The strong second-half result was driven almost entirely by two major deals — neither of which fits the traditional definition of "fintech".
The first was Experian’s $540 million acquisition of Illion, an established credit data and technology company. The second was the $197 million takeover of research firm Lonsec by its major shareholder, Generation Development Group.
“While these deals were material in value, deal count remains down 14% on H1’24, indicating investment activity is struggling to pick up its pace, especially at a seed/startup and scale-up level,” KPMG said.
