72% fewer Indian fintech startups incorporated in 2023 than in 2021: Report

There have been around 30 acquisition deals in the Indian fintech space in 2023 and 20 out of these were done by large companies with over 1,000 employees or funding of over $50 million

In 2023, the number of fintech startups which got incorporated in India was 72.6 per cent less than in 2021 and 55.55 per cent lower than in 2022, data released by mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deal-sourcing platform Growthpal on Tuesday showed.

In 2023, 20 fintech startups were incorporated in India, compared to 73 and 45 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. This does not reflect the data for startups with less than 10 employees or do not have a website or LinkedIn page.

"During 2020 and 2021, both regulators and founders gained insights into the capabilities and limitations of emerging fintech products," said Maneesh Bhandari, founder and chief executive officer at Growthpal.

"However, the subsequent introduction of new regulations and compliance measures across industries has created a challenging environment for launching new fintech ventures."

The data also highlighted that there had been around 30 acquisition deals in the Indian fintech space in 2023 as compared to 37 and 29 deals in 2022 and 2021 respectively. Some of the notable deals in lending were Bridge2Capital's acquisition by IIFL Finance, FinFort's acquisition by Yubi, and ORO Wealth's acquisition by InCred Capital, among others.

Out of these 30, the majority (20) were done by large companies with over 1,000 employees or funding of over $50 million. Six of these were made by companies with more than 500 workers and over $20 million in funding. Five of them were done by smaller companies.

"In 2024, the trends that will dominate the fintech place include disruption by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in financial services, the rise of digital lending marketplaces through open banking and Application Programming Interface, and the increasing significance of sustainable solutions for fintech to address industry challenges and remain competitive," Bhandari added.