In 2020, French Fintech is doing much better than resisting!

“France Fintech, the professional association of French Fintech, Insurtech and Regtech, publishes its annual fundraising barometer. 2020 will have been a year with an atypical profile, reflecting a global economic environment strongly impacted by the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic. »

On the whole, companies in the sector resisted well and raised € 828,2 million in 63 transactions, an increase of 18,5% compared to 2019.

2020: a "three-beat waltz"

The year got off to a strong start with major deals such as Qonto and Lydia, both of which welcomed international investors. 253 million euros were raised in the first quarter, or 36% of the total amount for 2019, as an extension of the strong growth of recent years.

From the second quarter, the movement slowed down significantly due to the consequences of the first confinement and the resulting climate of uncertainty. The gradual deconfinement made it possible to restore a certain momentum with 123,2 million euros raised in June. Summer and autumn were marked by the wait, apart from the significant fundraising of 100 million euros from Dataiku (financial decision-making tool by data) in August.

The year ends, as it started, on a very positive trend. The amounts invested in December (143,9 million euros) are close to those of January with in particular three large-scale operations: Luko, Pigment and Lydia, which thus completes its financing round at the start of the year to reach 112 million over the year. overall of the year, the most important B series for a French FinTech.

In this extremely disturbed context, French Fintechs post a good annual performance with 828,2 million euros. They do significantly better than the European market (-7%) and represent an increased proportion of fundraising in the digital sector in France (15% of fundraising in 2020 against 13% in 2019).

Acceleration and development of new uses

The analysis of transactions reveals some interesting trends that confirm the maturity of the ecosystem:

• the very object of these surveys, centered on commercial development, the diversification of models, a more assertive technological component and internationalization;
• the increase in the average ticket (+ 20,6%) with a continuation of seed operations (43,5% of fundraising, 37,1% for series A);
• the ability to raise important tickets: three operations of more than 100 million euros;
• the arrival of several international investors (United States, United Kingdom, China, Singapore in particular) which demonstrates the attractiveness of the players and of the French market, a privileged gateway to Europe;
• finally, marked growth in the valuations of leading players, which thus reduced part of the gap compared to European and American champions.