Social distancing and lockdown measures didn’t keep fintech startup investors from parting with their cash as the second quarter saw fintech funding rise 17%. Global fintech startups in regions, such as North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia saw a rise, but Asia funding fell 37%.
Per a CNBC report, “Asia saw their capital raise fall around 37% from $2.56 billion in the first quarter to $1.62 billion in the second, the report said. There were 119 deals done in the region for the quarter, down from 126 in the previous three months.”
Nonetheless, it was still a victory for fintech startups the world over.
“Financial technology start-ups in most of the world raised more money in the second quarter than they did in the first three months of the year, but deal activity remained on a decline, according to a new report from CB Insights,” the report noted. “Fintech funding rose 17% on-quarter from $7.9 billion to $9.3 billion, according to the report. CB Insights said its data excluded start-ups that were solely funded by angel investors, private equity firms or through other means like raising debt or line of credit transactions.”
Fintech Options in ETFs
ETFs to look at in the growing fintech space include the Global X FinTech ETF (NasdaqGM: FINX) and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSEArca: ARKF). ARKF invests in equity securities of companies that ARK believes are shifting financial services and economic transactions to technology infrastructure platforms, ultimately revolutionizing financial services by creating simplicity and accessibility while driving down costs.
FINX seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Fintech Thematic Index. The underlying index is designed to provide exposure to exchange-listed companies in developed markets that provide financial technology products and services, including companies involved in mobile payments, peer-to-peer (P2P) and marketplace lending, financial analytics software, and alternative currencies, as defined by the index provider.
Another fund to take advantage of within financial innovation is the Goldman Sachs Motif Finance Reimagined ETF (GFIN). GFIN seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Motif Finance Reimagined Index.
The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its assets in securities included in its underlying index. The index is designed to deliver exposure to companies with common equity securities listed on exchanges in certain developed markets that may benefit from the on-going structural changes in the support and delivery of financial services.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.
