VC dollars into fintech startups jumps 44% from Q4

Vator will be holding a panel on the fintech space at Vator Splash Spring on May 12

Editor's Note: Our annual Vator Splash Spring 2016 conference is around the corner on May 12, 2016 at the historic Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. Speakers include Nigel Eccles (CEO & Co-founder, FanDuel), Andy Dunn (Founder & CEO, Bonobos), Mitch Kapor (Founder, Kapor Center for Social Impact); Founders of NextDoor, Handy, TubeMogul; Investors from Khosla Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, Kapor Capital, Greylock, DFJ, IDG, IVP and more. Join us! REGISTER HERE.

Despite the down market, financial tech companies seem to have weathered the storm pretty nicely.

Fintech startups received $1.8 billion in venture capital in the first quarter of 2016, according to data from Pitchbook. That is up 44 percent from the $1.25 billion raised in the previous quarter, and it's up 13 percent from the same quarter last year.

There were a total of 106 deals, a 4 percent increase from the last quarter, but also a 10 percent decrease year-over-year.

In all, there hasn't been a huge amount of fluctuation in the space. Sure, funding fell 66 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, but that's mostly because Q3 had been an aberration, with $3.7 billion invested, more than a billion more than any other quarter had previously seen.

Over the past five years, in all there have been 1.846 deals in the fintech space, reaching a total of $22.4 billion in venture capital dollars invested. There has not been less than at least $1 billion invested since the first quarter of 2014. 

In that same amount of time, there have been 1,252 VC investors who participated in one of those deals. Pitchbook identified the top firms who put money into fintech. 

The most active investor is Digital Currency Group, which build and support bitcoin and blockchain companies. It has made 35 investments, including Ripple, Tradeblock, Grayscale, and Bitpay.

Right after them is Sequoia Capital with 30 investments, including Square, Prosper and WeLab, followed by SV Angel, with 28 investments, including TransferWise, Kabbage, Credit Karma and LendUp. 

In fourth place is Blockchain Capital, which support start up executives who are leveraging Blockchain technology. Its investments have included BitFury, Coinbase, Kraken, and Freshpay.

Tied at fifth place are Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, each with 22. Index invested in TransferWise, Osper and Wealthfront, while Andreessen's investments include Dwolla, Coinbase, Ripple and LendUp.

Nyca Partners and Accel each have made 21 investments over the last five years, while Kima Ventures made 20 and QED Investors made 19 investments.

We will be holding a discussion at Vator Splash Spring about the future of fintech, with a panel entitled, "VC money is pouring into FinTech: What’s hot and what’s not and how do you get your startup funded?"

It will be moderated by Jackson Gates, founder and CEO of Sweep. Panelists will include Jay Reinemann, Partner at Propel.VC; Alex Davidov, Partner at Core.VC; Ben Savage from Clocktower Ventures; and Todd Kimmel, Managing Partner at Montage Ventures. 

(Image source: fintechinnovation-asia.com)