Page 10 - bne_Tech_07_2020

Fintech & E-commerce
July 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
CEE Fintech Atlas: Some stagnation, but new vibrant hotspots and opportunities
Gunter Deuber of Raiffeisen Research in Vienna
Not all indicators point to stellar growth in the regional fintech landscape in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) any longer. One might even think that the fintech boom in the CEE region has peaked.
According to figures from Raiffeisen Bank International's (RBI) CEE Fintech Atlas, the number of active local fintechs in the CEE region remained almost constant from 2018 to 2019.
In the CEE region (excluding Turkey) we identify close to 650 active local fintechs (with Turkey more than 700). But the number of active fintechs is not everything. There were also important growth areas in the CEE fintech space in CEE. And you can’t forget the more interesting country differences.
The new CEE RBI Fintech Atlas also answers other important questions: What are the leading fintechs destinations in the region? How did funding levels develop in 2019? In which CEE markets are fintech ecosystems already flourishing in terms of number of fintechs operating or funding and where there are potential “hidden champions”.
The same top dogs continue to dominate the CEE fintech market. The majority of the local fintechs continue to operate on the Russian and Polish markets, with an aggregated share of almost 50% of all locally active fintechs in CEE (30% in Russia, 20% in Poland). However, the percentage here has slightly decreased in 2019 from 56% in 2018, so that other CEE markets have caught up
in 2019 and the number of fintech companies has increased there.
Relatively significant increases in the number
of active fintechs can be observed in Bulgaria, Hungary and Ukraine. These are positive developments and reflect the development of increasingly vibrating local fintech scenes – away from the internationally recognised local CEE fintech hotspots. Moreover, smaller CEE fintech markets are increasingly seeing the foundation of related fintech associations and incubations programmes.
On a positive note, funding figures show that
2019 recorded a new peak in the level of fintech investment in many CEE markets. Compared to 2018, the markets in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine showed a strong growth in investment.
There is also a trend towards increased investment in fintechs by local and regional
VC funds, as exemplified by Speedinvest from Austria, Startup Wiseguys from the Baltics, Eleven Ventures from Bulgaria, ENERN from the Czech Republic, Hiventures from Hungary, Speedup Group from Poland, Gapminder from Romania and Revo Capital from Turkey. In terms of aggregated fintech funding (2008-2019) the Bulgarian market is particular interesting (representing around 8% of regional fintech investments), outpacing other markets such as Czechia and Hungary.
The leading fintech markets of Poland and Russia did not manage to print new peaks