Following up a strong first quarter, fintech investment within the U.S. had a slight overall dip in the first half of 2019. 470 deals amounting to $18.3 billion in total closed out the first half of 2019, with the top fintech deal in the world going to the $6.9 billion buyout of Dun & Bradstreet. This information comes from the latest KPMG report, the H1’ 2019 Pulse of Fintech report.
Despite the dip, American fintech investment is positioned to break records and hit all-new highs in the second half of the year. M&A activity showed particular strength, with five of the half’s top deals in the U.S. as well as three very large-scale deals announced in the same stretch of time. This includes the Global Payments merger with Total System Services ($21.5 billion), the acquisition of First Data by Fiserv ($22 billion), and Fidelity’s acquisition of Worldpay ($43 billion).
If these three deals close in the second half of 2019 as projected, they have the potential to throw the U.S. and global fintech investment to brand-new highs. Robert Ruark, Fintech leader and Financial Services Strategy at KPMG LLP, talked about the near-future, saying, “The payments space continues to be hot, demonstrating there’s plenty of long-term growth potential in the sector, including verticals like healthcare payments.”
