In its latest report on the global fintech ecosystem, Startup Genome named Singapore in the top five list of top global fintech ecosystem while Jakarta shares the 17th position with Atlanta.

Jakarta’s entry to the list was pushed by the number of exits and funding round that the city has experienced. It is also home to leading unicorn startups in the region; these startups are either focussing on the fintech verticals or has a fintech service as one of its offerings.

Last year, in its Global Startup Ecosystem Report, Startup Genome already highlighted Jakarta as a “challenger” for leading startup ecosystem globally.

The report considered factors such as performance, funding, talent, focus, and legacy when shortlisting the fintech ecosystem in the list.

With the rise of these fintech hubs in the APAC region, according to the report, Europe and North America no longer dominate the top 20 global fintech ecosystem.

In addition to Jakarta and Singapore, other Southeast Asian cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila as emerging fintech hub in the Southeast Asian region.

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Early stage fintech funding declines

The Startup Genome report also looked at how fintech funding the global ecosystem fared.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic –which has been known to affect startup funding in the various ecosystem– the report noted that there was already a decline in the global fintech funding.

It explained that the year 2018 was considered as the peak for investment in the fintech vertical. In fact, in the last year’s edition of Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report, fintech had already been put into the mature subsector category.

“Early stage funding (pre-seed, seed and Series A) has plateaued almost everywhere. China in particular has seen a drop. The notable exceptions are Europe and Americas (excluding the US), both of which have seen an increase,” the report detailed.

“Series B+ funding is doing better with China being the only region down in 2019, but this is due to a whopper year in 2018, led by a US$14 billion funding round for Ant Financial,” it continued.

It also explained that the increasing share of Series B+ funding rounds for fintech companies indicated “industry consolidation with more money being poured into winners.” It is also considered “ultimately necessary” as fintech commercials require large volume for profitability.

When it comes to popular sectors, the report noted on the rise of digital-only banking –including services such as wealth management and broader service bundles– and artificial intelligence which was dubbed as a “natural complement” to fintech due to its ability to help provide hyper-personalised solutions.

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