As funding winter continues, how fintech firms may find path to thaw

Regulators have recognised the potential they hold for our country. It is now upon companies to take the mantle forward

While we struggle through the (in)famous Indian summer, fintechs are battling with a stubborn ‘funding winter’ since mid-2022 that is likely to persist in this financial year. The Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown and social-distancing norms in 2020 were key enablers of the digital journey, and fintech firms were able to capitalise on the opportunity to scale rapidly by acquiring customers in large numbers. By 2021, listed fintechs in other markets had hit their lifetime highs (say PayPal, Square, and Tencent). These resulted in exuberance among the venture capital (VC) firms in India, leading to frothy valuations and a race to cut