FinTech firms in Asia raised close to $857.7 million across 33 disclosed financing deals, including two ICOs. The total number of FinTech financing deals in Asia in May 2018 was 40.
The largest number of deals were made in India (47.5%), followed by Singapore (20%), China (12.5%), Malaysia and Singapore – with 2.5% of deals each.
Lending was the most represented segment – 23% of all firms that raised funds in May 2018 in Asia were lending companies, followed by InsurTech (18%), Blockchain (13%), and Capital Markets Tech (8%).
The distribution of funds was slightly different from the representation: while InsurTech startups are representing 18% of all startups that were involved in financing deals in Asia in May 2018 (following only Lending startups), they topped the charts in terms of value raised.
Out of the approximate $858 million in disclosed financing, 28% went into the InsurTech segment (~$239 million), followed by 22% (~$191 million) of total funds going to Lending companies, and 16% ($133 million) to Payments firms.
Today’s investments trends are consistent with what George Kesselman, Co-founder & CEO of Anapi, shared[1] at the end of 2016 on the emergence of the InsurTech ecosystem in Asia. He had stated that Asia is attractive from both an insurer and an InsurTech perspective due to the size of its significantly underinsured population.
“The region has traditionally seen a large part of the risks self-insured through family and community networks. As the region experiences rapid growth in the affluence of its population, together with an aging population, the risk exposure is then becoming even more apparent and the need for alternative risk transfer
