Despite the market troubles, there were still colossal funding rounds within the FinTech sector. The top ten deals raised a combined total of US$8bn.
Europe led the charge for the biggest deals of the year, representing seven of the top ten. The remaining three were raised by US-based companies (Securonix, Acrisure and Cross River).
The UK was the most represented in the top ten deals, including the two biggest deals of the year, which were raised by WealthTech FNZ and PayTech Checkout.com. The other UK-based deal was secured by Sumup.
France had two companies in the top ten (Qonto and EcoVadis), while Greece and Sweden each had one (Viva Wallet and Klarna, respectively).
Here are the ten biggest FinTech deals of 2022
FNZ
The biggest deal of the year came early into 2022. Global wealth management platform FNZ secured US$1.4bn in a funding round backed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) and Motive Partners. CPP supplied US$1.1bn of the total capital.
The funding round valued FNZ at a colossal $20bn. This deal marked the biggest primary equity raise within the wealth management sector.
With the funds, FNZ looked to accelerate its growth through R&D, as well as bolster its presence in markets around the world, with a focus on North America.
At the time of the funding round, “The company has successfully demonstrated exponential growth in the scale and depth of customer relationships and geographic expansion with platform revenues more than quadrupling in the past three years to over US$1billion per annum, whilst also growing profitably and sustainably.
“Our growth trajectory shows no signs of slowing down, and we are delighted to welcome CPP Investments and Motive Partners to FNZ.”
FNZ is an end-to-end wealth platform that helps wealth managers deliver personalised services and wealth products that meet the needs of clients.
It completed a handful of acquisitions during 2022. This included the purchase of specialised WealthTech provider DIAMOS. With this acquisition, FNZ hopes to bolster its global client proposition by adding advanced product and service solutions to its existing end-to-end wealth management platform.
FNZ also invested into Nokkel, which helps homebuyers and homeowners with the selling process.
The company has not slowed down with the turn of the year. Earlier this week, the firm completed the acquisition of Fondsdepot Bank, a German platform for trading and custody.
Checkout.com
Another sizable FinTech funding round was completed by European payments solution provider Checkout.com. The company raised US$1bn for its Series D round, which upped its valuation to an eyewatering US$40bn.
Investors to the round were Altimeter, Dragoneer, Franklin Templeton, GIC, Insight Partners, the Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global and the Oxford Endowment Fund.
With the funds, the company is looking at growth in the Us, bolstering its technology and more. It raised the funds following the tripling of its transaction volume for the third consecutive year.
Checkout.com founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz said, “By combining an elegant technology stack with industry expertise and an ‘extra-mile’ approach to service over the past decade, we’ve built deep partnerships with some of the world’s most innovative companies.
“Our Series D is validation of that work—but given we’re still in ‘chapter zero’ of our journey, it will also fuel our efforts to unlock the enormous untapped opportunity ahead.”
The investment came a year after Checkout.com raised its Series C on US$450m. Its valuation following the close of the round was US$15bn.
Checkout.com is a full-stack online payment platform that simplifies payments processes for large global enterprises.
It had a busy 2022. Late in the year, UK retailer Sainsbury’s named the payments service provider as its payment innovator across the country. The deal allows customers to pay for their shopping without having to visit a till. Instead, they will pay on-the-go via Sainsbury’s SmartShop app on their smartphones, saving them time and creating a more flexible shopping experience.
Checkout.com also released its Fraud Detection Pro tool, which combats bot attacks, account takeover, synthetic identities and other fraud attempts. It does this through sophisticated decision strategies, flexible rules and the ability to build unique customer segments for more granular assessments.
Another major development for the payments company was the acquisition of ID verification firm ubble. The acquisition enables Checkout.com to expand its current suite of financial products that allows FinTechs and e-commerce merchants to accept and send payments to and from their customers, while managing the financial risk involved.
Securonix
Another FinTech company to raise US$1bn was Securonix, a Threat detection platform. The investment was led by Vista Equity Partners, with support also coming from Volition Capital and Eight Roads Ventures.
The capital infusion was raised to help Securonix hire senior leaders for its engineering, cloud operations, threat labs, and sales and marketing teams. This investment followed a strong 12-month growth period for the RegTech, which included a 100 per cent year-over-year employee headcount growth. Its team exceeds 1,000 people.
Securonix offers security analytics at cloud scale. It collects high volumes of data in real-time, detects advanced threats with machine learning algorithms and helps companies respond. Its technology gives clients full visibility, advanced detection and response and unlimited scalability for their systems.
Securonix CTO and co-founder Tanuj Gulati said, “Since inception, Securonix has been steadfast in its commitment to develop innovative products that solve the difficult problem of identifying and responding to advanced security threats while meeting the needs of scalability, cloud readiness, and operational efficiency.
“We look forward to this partnership with Vista to support our goal of enabling leading enterprises and managed service providers to secure their infrastructure, network, and applications against advanced threats with speed and efficiency.”
The RegTech company established a number of partnerships in 2022. It teamed up with continuous purple teaming and threat hunting platform SnapAttack. By working together, they hope to detect threats earlier and empower a swifter response.
Securonix also collaborated with IT solutions provider Mphasis. The deal combines Securonix’s analytics-driven detection and automated response tools with Mphasis’ Digital & Cyber Defense expertise, to provide future-ready cyber threat monitoring and response services to enterprises, and government agencies globally.
Viva Wallet
US financial services giant J.P. Morgan acquired a 48.5 per cent stake in Greek PayTech company Viva Wallet. The deal is believed to have been worth around US$800m.
Following the deal close, Viva Wallet founders Haris Karonis and Makis Antypas remain as the majority owners, with 51.5 per cent of shares.
Alongside the share purchase, J.P. Morgan converted Viva Wallet’s Convertible Loan Note, enabling Viva Wallet Group to eliminate its debt.
Speaking on the deal, J.P Morgan Payments global head Takis Georgakopoulos said, “We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and middle market merchant services clients.
“The European payments landscape is fragmented yet large in terms of opportunity, with more than 17 million merchants ready to implement scalable payments solutions and this is a big focus area for added growth for J.P. Morgan Payments in the future.”
Viva Wallet aims to transform payments and unify the European payments landscape. It hopes to achieve this through its omnichannel solution that supports digital and physical transactions. Its features include smart checkout services and a tap-on-phone Viva Wallet POS app.
Late last year, Viva Wallet signed a partnership with BNPL giant Klarna. Through the deal, Viva Wallet added Klarna’s BNPL services to its merchant network. This allows clients to offer Klarna’s Pay in 3, Pay in 30 Days, Pay Now and short-term loans to its customers.
Klarna
Swedish BNPL giant Klarna had a bittersweet 2022. While it raised an impressive US$800m in funding, its valuation dropped by 85 per cent to US$6.7bn.
The investment was supplied by a mixture of existing and first-time backers, including Sequoia, Silver Lake, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It was raised to help Klarna expand its footprint in the US.
In its statement, it said, “The fresh investment in Klarna occurred during possibly the worst set of circumstances to afflict stock markets since World War II: high inflation, rising interest rates, mounting fears of a recession, the aftereffects of the first global pandemic since 1918, strains on commerce caused by supply chain disruptions, rising gas prices, and, especially in Europe, the dislocations caused by the war in Ukraine.”
Klarna added that the new valuation was still three-times higher than it was in 2018 and claimed to be “outperforming Klarna’s public peers for the same time period.”
It added, “Klarna has not been immune to the significant downdrafts of fintech stock in public markets. The company’s peers are down 80-90 per cent vs peak valuations and consequently the adjustment in Klarna’s valuation is on par with its public peers from its US$45.6bn valuation in June 2021.”
Speculation of the downround circulated for a couple of months and followed a 10 per cent cut of its global workforce.
The valuation came a year after its valuation peaked at US$46bn.
Klarna suffered more bad news later in 2022. Its net losses almost quadruple during H1, despite its revenue being up 24 per cent. Similarly, Klarna Australia haemorrhaged US$56m in losses.
However, it was not all doom and gloom. The company signed a deal to leverage Clarity AI’s data and capabilities to promote environmentally conscious brands to 150 million shoppers.
It also launched a new platform that connects retailers with creators and influencers to help them reach their target markets.
Klarna has already hit the ground running in 2023. It entered into a strategic partnership with payments firm Ingenico to help roll out its flexible payment options at the point-of-sale.
Acrisure
InsurTech data provider Acrisure reached a US$23bn valuation following the close of its Series B-2 funding round on US$725m. The new valuation represented a 31 per cent jump from its previous, which it got in March 2021.
The investment was led by a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Other commitments came from Guggenheim Investments on behalf of certain clients and Oak Hill Advisors.
This equity infusion was raised to help Acrisure pursue value-accretive acquisitions, expand its tech-enabled solutions, bolster its marketing and brand awareness and invest in human and technological infrastructure.
Co-founder, CEO and president of Acrisure, Greg Williams said, “This investment is a testament to our strategic direction and ability to innovate and adapt to the needs of our customers.
“We are thrilled to partner with ADIA and OHA, premier, globally recognized investment institutions, and continue our work with Guggenheim. This transaction reaffirms how the market, and our partners, value the strength of our performance and trajectory for future growth.”
Founded in 2015, Acrisure supplies clients with intelligence-driven financial services solutions. It supports insurance, reinsurance, real estate companies, cybersecurity firms, and asset and wealth managers.
The company had a busy 2022. At the start of the year, it launched Acrisure Cyber Services. This is an all-in-one solution aimed at combating risks posed by cyberattacks.
Following this, it partnered with Coalition, a supplier of cyber insurance security tools. Through the deal, Acrisure Cyber Services gained access to Coalition’s risk assessment tools. With this, clients gain a personalised view of their cyber vulnerabilities and offers recommendations on how to solve them.
Acrisure then bolstered the cyber division through the acquisition of two managed service providers. These were Catalyst Technology Group and ITS.
Catalyst helps SMEs with IT support, while ITS provides IMB system design, integration and consulting.
Other acquisitions completed by Acrisure in 2022 were B2Z and QuickInsured.
SumUp
Global payments platform SumUp reached an €8bn(US$8.67billion) valuation after it closed a funding round on €590m. Bain Capital Tech Opportunities led the round, with contributions also coming from BlackRock, btov Partners, Centerbridge, Crestline, Fin Capital and Sentinel Dome Partners.
It raised the funds to expand into new markets, complete value-add acquisitions and deepen its product ecosystem.
SumUp co-founder and CFO Marc-Alexander Christ said, “SumUp has received consistent support from the global investment community in our mission to help small merchants succeed.
“We stand by our merchants whatever the circumstance ‒ whether that be COVID or macroeconomic uncertainty. Our ability to organically grow 60+ per cent through the challenges of recent years shows that we are there for merchants when they need support most. I am very proud of the team for completing a successful financing round in the current market with marquee investors – it’s indicative of our strength, execution, and potential.”
Founded in 2012, SumUp provides small merchants with a reliable payment solution. The platform supports in-person and remote payments through card terminals, POS registers and more. Merchants can use the Super App to access a free business account and card, and an invoicing solution.
In October, SumUp launched a new digital wallet that aims to make shopping locally easier and more rewarding. SumUp Pay has an integrated loyalty scheme that focuses on local businesses. Users can collect rewards on every pound spent through the Mastercard virtual card.
The tool also offers one-click secure remote payments for SumUp merchants, which are completed through a QR code.
Cross River
Cross River Bank, a technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, raised US$620m in a financing round in March. Eldridge and Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with commitments also coming from funds and accounts that were advised by White Rock, Hanaco Ventures and T. Rowe Price Investment Management.
The capital injection is earmarked to help Cross River accelerate its technology-focused growth strategy.
This strategy includes enhancing its payments, cards, lending and crypto solutions, as well as hire more people and communities. Additionally, it is looking to further its international expansion efforts and complete more strategic partnerships.
Cross River CEO and president Gilles Gade said, “Cross River is powering the future digital economy and changing lives by reinventing the way financial services are accessed. The quality of the investor group and size of our latest funding make this a landmark transaction in the financial technology arena and will enable us to accelerate the growth of Cross River as the foundation of modern finance.”
The company powers the lending and payments for over 80 technology partners. These include Checkout.com, Affirm, Coinbase, Best Egg, Divvy, Freedom Financial and Stripe.
This was a notable distance from its previous funding round. The FinTech company secured US$100m for its Series C in 2020.
Cross River was busy with partnerships in 2022. One of these was a deal with Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to distribute grants to further support women and minority owned businesses.
Another partnership was formed with banking and payments company Ibanera. As part of the deal, Cross River helped power Ibanera’s digital banking platform and capabilities through APIs. This integration allows businesses of any size to accept ACH, wire and RTP account funding, payment distributions and payment collections.
Qonto
French challenger bank Qonto reached a US$5bn valuation after it raised US$552m for its Series D funding round. Tiger Global and TCV served as the lead investors to the round. Existing backers Valar, Alven, DST Global and Tencent also participated in the Series D.
It raised the funds to support acquisition efforts as it looks to continue its expansion across Europe. Qonto is also on a mission to quadruple its team to over 2,000 people by 2025.
Alexandre Prot, co-founder and CEO of Qonto, said: “This new Series D funding round is an amazing opportunity for us to accelerate our hyper-growth trajectory by investing in our product, our customer service and our power to attract new talents.”
Founded in 2017, Qonto serves clients across France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Its goal is to create an all-in-one finance solution for SMEs and freelancers.
The Series D was not the only batch of funding Qonto did in 2022. It raised €5m through the Crowdcube platform in just six hours and 38 minutes, making it the fastest campaign on Crowdcube. It also marked the first crowdfunding campaign of a European unicorn.
It chose to conduct a crowdfund as a way to engage with retail investors and customers to bolster their relationship.
The year brought a sizable acquisition for Qonto. In July it acquired German FinTech company Penta. It made the purchase to bolster its position in Germany and access more SME and freelancer clients. Penta had over 50,000 customers.
Qonto’s previous funding round was a US$115m Series C in 2020, which was led by Tencent and DST Global.
EcoVadis
Another French FinTech company to raise a big funding round in 2022 was sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis. The ESG-focused FinTech company raised US$500m, which helped it earn unicorn status. Its exact valuation was not revealed.
EcoVadis claims the investment was the largest equity fundraise for a sustainability data SaaS company to date.
It is using the funds to scale-up globally, deepen its AI and machine learning capabilities, make strategic acquisitions and more.
The funding round was led by UK-based private equity firm Astorg and BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic’s climate investing venture. Other commitments came from Singapore-based GIC and Princeville Capital’s Climate Technology Fund.
BeyondNetZero managing director Rhea Hamilton said, “We believe EcoVadis has all the critical elements to make global impact and a meaningful contribution to the net zero transition, including a high-quality business model, strong leadership, innovative technology and a bold vision for driving ESG-oriented transformations across supply chains and industries.
“We are excited to back EcoVadis as the company enters a new phase of growth and look forward to partnering with its management team as we aim to further accelerate the company’s global expansion and climate impact.”
EcoVadis supports over 95,000 businesses across 200 industry categories and 175 countries. Clients leverage its services to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their own business and trading partners. Use cases include Scope 3 carbon emissions management, private equity, ESG-linked loans, supply chain finance, third-party risk and resilience and more.
The company had a busy 2022 for partnerships. Staples Promotional Products, an office supplier, teamed up with EcoVadis to create the market’s first sustainable procurement platform. The service will offer full sustainability transparency to every link in its supply chain.
Execution management platform Celonis teamed up with EcoVadis to leverage the sustainability ratings data to make business procurement processes more sustainable. The mission is to reduce its carbon impact and execute in a sustainable way through the elimination of process inefficiencies.
EcoVadis also established an alliance with Greenomy to combine their services. They will combine EcoVadis’ sustainability rating platform and scorecards with Greenomy’s automated sustainability reporting SaaS portal.
To find out other major deals of 2022, here are the five biggest mergers and acquisitions. Alternatively, here are some of the most notable acquisitions within InsurTech during 2022.
