After a period of subdued enthusiasm, recent headlines are signaling a resurgence in fintech, ending the "fintech winter" that cast a shadow over the industry in recent years. 

Across the globe, fintechs are continuing to make impressive strides in penetrating both consumers and businesses’ everyday lives. In May, Nubank announced that it has crossed 100 million customers, and its share price has risen almost 70% this year alone. Revolut recently announced that it had soared to a record profit of $545 million in 2023. This was hot on the heels of Monzo’s annual report, highlighting the company’s first full year of profitability (£15.4M profit in financial year 2024). More releases from Trade Republic and Zopa Bank reveal profitability, customer growth, expansion plans and product launches. As more fintechs transition from hypergrowth to profitability, we’re seeing more start-ups emerge as durable yet disruptive companies that are providing millions of users with real life value.

Following funding declines post the 2021 peak, recent figures indicate the “fintech winter” many have referred to over the last year is thawing and the sector is adjusting to a new normal. For Europe alone, Dealroom places fintech funding for 2024 to date at $5.5B, tracking towards similar levels to 2023’s $8.4B and 2020’s $10.4B.

Beyond scale-ups and fast growing unicorns deepening their reach, new and exciting opportunities are also emerging. GenAI is enabling innovative solutions across various vertices, from insurance and banking to wealth management. Whether it’s enhanced fraud detection and security, automated customer service, personalized banking or co-pilots for developers, many fintechs are only just scratching the surface when it comes to what’s possible. Areas such as software for finance teams and embedded finance are also fertile ground as an increasing number of new and traditional businesses recognize their potential to increase efficiency and offer new user propositions to open new revenue streams. 

Across the myriad categories of the financial service universe, we’re still in the nascent stages of disrupting decades-old incumbents and systems that most money movements happen on today. The size of the prize is the $10T global market cap of the broader financial services industry.

At our 2022 Fintech Summit EMEA, we highlighted the fact that fintech has become an increasingly dominant part of the tech ecosystem, with Europe playing a leading role globally. Every generation of fintech has gone broader and deeper, touching more areas of our daily lives, and this is set to continue as founders build on the foundations of the fintech companies that have come before them. 

There’s also no shortage of talent - figures in our founder factory report show that the ambition of the region’s fintech founders remains undiminished with many new startups being founded, even in 2023’s difficult macroeconomic conditions. In the last 14 years, 70 fintech unicorns have seen 423 startups founded by former employees and more than a third (35%) were also in fintech. The flywheel of talent from fintech unicorns is spinning, producing the next wave of founders as well as a network of people around them who have a wealth of product, engineering and management experience, and have been on the startup journey before. This knowledge and experience is vital to building future fintech success stories and growing the ecosystem. 

As we prepare to host this year’s Fintech Summit EMEA, the signs of a resilient ecosystem are undeniable. Join us as we explore the strategies, insights, and visionary thinking that will shape the fintech landscape in the years to come.

‍Join hundreds of fintech leaders and investors at Accel’s second Fintech Summit EMEA

On 23 October, we’ll bring together entrepreneurs,  leaders, investors and media from across the broader ecosystem to London to discuss the future of fintech. You’ll have the opportunity to gain actionable insights, meet potential partners and customers, and network with investors.

Which sectors are ripe for transformation? What fintech areas will GenAI have the biggest impact on? With consumers using more fintech apps than ever, what will they expect moving forward? Is embedded finance now transforming every company into a fintech company? We’ll be discussing all of these topics and more. 

If you’d like to join the event, please email the Accel team here

‍Apply for our Fintech 100 EMEA List

To coincide with our Fintech Summit, we’ll be unveiling our 2024 list of the top 100 up-and-coming fintechs headquartered in EMEA. The region is at the forefront of the fintech revolution and it’s time to shine a light on its rising stars.

The top 100 will be selected based on scale, momentum and strategic positioning, taking into account both operational metrics (headcount, usage, revenue) and market analysis (value proposition, competitive landscape, market attractiveness).

If you’re building a future category leader in fintech (headquartered in EMEA, valued at less than $1B, independent), apply now!

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