Hey fintech friends,

Fintech didn’t slow down for the holidays– making this a terrific time to take stock of what’s been happening over the past quarter, and what this signals for the ecosystem going into the new year.

For new readers, Signals is the premium subscriber edition of TWIF designed to get you away from the headlines and to explore the larger trendlines. Each quarter, we break down four key questions on fintech activity:

1. Which concepts are getting funded? 
2. Where are exits, M&A, and SPACs concentrated? 
3. Which firms are raising debt and venture funds for fintech? 
4. Which products were launched over the last quarter? 

If you haven’t already, subscribe to future editions here!

Overall activity

Total fintech funding rose 36% from the prior quarter to $12.98 billion in Q4 (a 61% jump Year-over-Year), fueled by over a dozen Series D-Series G megarounds. The number of equity raises was down 14% QoQ (⬇️19% YoY), bringing average deal size up 57% QoQ (⬆️11% YoY).

Early-stage (Pre-Seed-Series C) funding has tightened after a surge in AI investments since early 2024 has left VCs with far less dry powder to deploy. Investors are also demanding higher revenue thresholds and clearer paths to profitability, with the median revenue of a company raising a Series A now 4x higher than in 2021 according to SVB.