Refinitiv: Southeast Asian fintech companies have raised ~$3B across 80 deals so far in 2021, more than in 2020 and 2019 combined
Financial Times : Tweets: @johnreedwrites Tweets: @johnreedwrites : While SEA super-apps Grab and GoTo get all the attention (and tons of funding), fundraising for fintechs in this region is surging too. @mjruehl and I spoke to PH unicorn Mynt, SG/Indo Finaccel, and regional payment co (founded by a Myanmar emigre) @2C2P. https://giftarticle.ft.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years ago, the Financial Times found Asian fintechs competing hard with banks but bleeding cash, and 2020 offered no rescue: the region's startups raised $8.2B, down slightly YoY, with Indonesia absorbing 70% of it. Refinitiv's new tally breaks that pattern — roughly $3B across 80 Southeast Asian fintech deals in 2021 alone, more than 2019 and 2020 combined.
The companies behind the number — Philippine unicorn Mynt, SG/Indo lender Finaccel, and regional payments firm 2C2P — are payments-infrastructure plays fundraising in the shadow of super-apps Grab and GoTo, and alongside Dealogic's record $75B M&A forecast for the region. Later Preqin data showing 2023 VC funding down 65% makes clear this article captures the top of the cycle.
First-order effects
- Payments-focused fintechs like Mynt, Finaccel and 2C2P now access growth capital at a scale the sector never reached in 2019–2020, ending Grab and GoTo's near-monopoly on regional investor attention.
Second-order effects
- Well-capitalized fintechs become prime targets in the M&A boom Dealogic forecasts, giving early backers an exit window while squeezing traditional banks that the FT already flagged as losing ground to these challengers.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the 2021 broadening of the buyer base sets up the consolidation wave that follows the 2023 pullback — regional fintech concentrating around fewer, better-funded payments platforms rather than dozens of cash-burning challengers.
The trend: Southeast Asian venture funding runs in cycles — cash-burning challengers in 2019, a 2021 fintech funding-and-M&A peak, then the 2023 retrenchment — with payments infrastructure positioned to outlast the super-app hype.