LONDON—Brexit fears have not stopped the U.K.’s financial technology industry from attracting more than $16 billion (£12 billion) of investment in the first half of 2018, more than any other country, a new report reveals.
New data from KPMG shows the U.K. accounted for over half the total fintech investment in Europe, and attracted significantly more than the U.S.’ $14 billion.
This was largely thanks to Vantiv’s blockbuster acquisition of WorldPay for $12.9 billion, although the findings also show that four of Europe’s top 10 venture capital deals took place in Britain, The Actuary said.
“Fintech investment is always fairly volatile, but the U.K. tends to enjoy higher highs and lower lows than most,” KPMG FinTech global co-lead, Anton Ruddenklau, said in The Actuary report. “The year has got off to an exceptionally strong start – while the rest of the year will struggle to replicate the first half, I’m optimistic we will remain in robust shape.”
In addition to the “bullish” levels of investment, Ruddenklau went on to say that the U.K.’s fintech industry had benefited from the government’s Fintech Sector Strategy published in March.
Globally, KPMG found that funding reached record levels in the first six months of this year, with $57.9 billion invested across 875 deals, compared with $38.1 billion over the whole of 2017.
There were nine deals valued at $1 billion or more, with an increasing number of corporates looking to leverage financial technology in order to drive innovation, The Actuary said in its analysis.
The number of U.S. deals rose from 276 in the second half of 2017 to 328 in the first six months of this year, while investment in Asia increased from $2 billion to $16.8 billion across 162 deals.