Anna Scally, head of technology and media at KPMG Ireland, says fintech investment is expected to remain subdued but any downward movement in interest rates may spark a revival in deals activity. Photograph: KPMG
A melange of interconnected challenges – including rising interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty and still-elevated levels of inflation – conspired to shrink the market for investment in technology last year as investors opted to hold on to their money. The fourth quarter marked “a unique and salutary milestone” in which no transactions were recorded, the report’s authors said, for the first time since 2012.
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, investment in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region was particularly mute with the $24.5 billion spent in the year representing a seven-year low.