As one venture capital investor recently described it to me, it feels like a “tough” time for fintech right now.
Though VCs invested record amounts of cash into fintech startups in 2021, per PitchBook data, deal value tumbled in 2022. Many investors predict the funding environment will remain tricky this year, but they’re still super upbeat about the sector: “The opportunity is so large and could dwarf most of software as these business models figure it out,” Jesse Wedler, a general partner at Google parent Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, told me on a recent visit to their San Francisco office.
Image: Clockwise from top left: Christina Melas-Kyriazi, partner at Bain Capital Ventures; Sarah Hinkfuss, partner at Bain Capital Ventures; Amit Kumar, partner at Accel; Charles Birnbaum of Bessemer Venture Partners; Jesse Wedler, general partner at CapitalG; Sumi Das, partner at CapitalG; Laura Bock, partner at QED; and Grace Isford, partner at Lux Capital. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF BAIN CAPITAL VENTURES, ACCEL, BESSEMER VENTURE PARTNERS, CAPITALG, LUX CAPITAL, QED
