India replaced China as the country with the largest amount of fintech funding in the first quarter of 2020, as the latter’s economy found itself hampered by the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the latest State of Fintech report from CB Insights China saw just 29 fintech deals worth USD$175 million in the first quarter, for its worst quarterly performance since 2015.
VC-backed fintech funding totalled 404 deals globally in the first quarter worth $6.1 billion, with all regions except for Africa seeing an on-quarter decline in deals.
India took first place with 29 deals that were worth $421 million in total.
CB Insights expects other countries to see similar sharp declines in fintech deals in subsequent quarters, as the rest of the world struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As the first country to fight and start to recover from coronavirus, what happens in China could be a gauge of what’s ahead for fintech as the virus spreads across other regions,” said the CB Insights report.
“Though Chinese investors were the first to feel the impact of Covid-19, resulting in a pullback on deals, the ripple effect quickly spread to other countries including India which tied with China for 29 deals.”
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