KPMG, a multinational professional services network, recently released a report about the surging activities in the financial technology sector of the United Kingdom and highlighted a sharp increase in the volume of investments in fintech.
According to the data published by KPMG, more than 600 M&A, private equity and venture capital fintech deals were finalized in the UK during 2021, which is 27% higher compared to 470 in 2020. Nearly 50% of the largest fintech deals in the EMEA region were completed in the UK.
In total, UK’s financial technology sector witnessed investments worth £27.5 billion ($37.3 billion) during the mentioned period, which is up sevenfold compared to $5.2 billion in 2020.
“The UK remains at the center of European fintech investment with British fintech companies attracting more funding than their counterparts in the rest of EMEA combined,” Karim Haji, the UK and EMA Head of financial services at KPMG, said.
Additionally, global fintech funding spiked substantially in 2021. With a record 5,684 deals, the international financial technology sector attracted a total of $210 billion last year.
UK’s Private Equity Market
Due to growing M&A activities and a dramatic rise in the total number of deals, the UK’s private equity market has expanded at a rapid pace during the last 12 months. KPMG’s report highlights that the deals across the business services sector increased from 215 in 2020 to 312 in 2021.
“The UK’s private equity market saw a dramatic return to form in 2021, as confidence returned and pent-up demand was released. There’s no denying that the UK’s M&A market had a stellar year in 2021, and while performance was strong across the board, it’s evident that some sectors were more resilient than others, such as technology, media and telco (TMT), tech-based business services, consumer goods and retail,” Jonathan Boyers, the Head of KPMG’s UK Corporate Finance practice, commented.
