Why the Amounts Invested in Belgian Fintech Companies Decreased

Over the first three quarters of 2023, investments in the Belgian fintech companies reached barely €48 million, according to figures collected by Fintech Belgium from the Sirris Innovation Research Center.

Over the first nine months of 2022, investments in Belgian fintech companies amounted to €255 million (€369 million for the whole of 2022). The amounts invested in Belgian fintech have therefore been divided by 5.

These figures must be put into perspective given the low number of operations carried out each year in the Belgian fintech sector. There were 6 fundraisings during the first three quarters of 2023. In 2022, 12 fundraisings were completed.

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No big fundraising in the Belgian fintech sector in 2023

Usually, a “big” fundraiser helps inflate the figures for the year. This was the case in 2021 with the fintech IbanFirst which raised €200 million or with Keyrock which raised €72 million in 2022. However, until now, in 2023, no operation of this magnitude has been completed.

This drop in investment in startups is not unique to fintech. Since the start of the year, fundraising by Belgian startups and scale-ups has been significantly losing momentum.

The movement is even European. According to figures collected by Sirris since the start of the year, the decline in investments in European technology startups is around -25%.

At the European level, fintech startups have already captured more than €13 billion in investments since the start of the year

At the European level, the only sector to do well is, weirdly, the fintech sector, which has already captured more than €13 billion in investments since the start of the year (16 billion euros in 2022). This is the sector that attracts the most fundraising and which captures the largest amounts, by far.

This attractiveness of fintech start-ups is much less marked in Belgium. “ Investors are cautious ,” notes Jean-Louis Van Houwe, president of Fintech Belgium. However, fintech services are growing and omnipresent in our daily lives, whether for online payments or for the use of shared bicycles or scooters. , or even charging stations for electric cars.”

The president of Fintech Belgium believes that the financial and digital ecosystem in Belgium remains attractive, and that it deserves new investments: “With more than 40 years of experience in digital services, Belgium is a European pioneer in innovation digital banking. It is therefore essential to intensify efforts and investments at all levels in order to maintain our place in Europe. Today is where everything is at stake,” says Jean-Louis Van Houwe.

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(Featured image by Sergio Otoya via Unsplash)

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First published in L’Echo. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the articles from the originals. In case of discrepancy, the originals will prevail.

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