By the Numbers
AVCJ RESEARCH
CHINA EXODUS
Until two years ago, growth-stage investment in Asian financial technology was all about platforms, P2P payments, and China. There were 38 funding rounds of $100 million or more between 2013 and 2018. All but six involved China-focused businesses, and four of those were based in Hong Kong. Since 2019, China represents three out of 33, as India and Southeast Asia have come to the fore. No single deal has surpassed $1 billion, but investment activity reflects a broader set of business models as well as a wider geographic spread. Payments still dominates – though payments providers are busy diversifying – but it sits alongside the likes of buy now, pay later, insurance, and cryptocurrency exchanges.
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Hong Kong-headquartered Airwallex has grown from nothing to a $2.6 billion valuation in the space of six years. Co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang details his plans to build a global financial technology stack.
The most disruptive technology in financial services is also the most esoteric and misunderstood. As a long, speculative uptake phase unfolds, investors are coming to terms with the future. 
Singapore’s Thunes rethinks remittances for an enterprise clientele; China’s IceKredit brings data privacy to credit scoring; India’s OfBusiness gravitates towards a healthy loans segment.
Banks across Asia are leveraging their capital and domain expertise to stay ahead of the curve on financial technology. Each aspect of the corporate VC ecosystem engages with start-ups in different ways. 
The use of blockchain to create digital assets has evolved from the mass circulation of ethereal, volatile, and interchangeable tokens into something that feels much more real. 
