The much-debated Capital One-Discover deal pushed quarterly fintech M&A dealmaking above the $50 billion watermark for the first time since 2021, data from FT Partners shows.
Why it matters: Along with Reddit's IPO, it indicates exit markets are slowly waking back up.
By the numbers: Fintech M&A reached $73.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, Axios' analysis of FT Partners data shows. It's the highest quarterly figure since the fourth quarter of 2021 — when volume reached $81.5 billion — just as the market was cooling off from the peak of pandemic bullishness.
- Even when excluding Capital One's $35.3 billion Discover mega-deal, fintech tie-ups still showed a modest rebound in the first three months of 2024, returning to early 2022 levels.
- Cinven agreed to buy a majority stake of fund administrator Alter Domus for about $5.3 billion a month ago. KKR snapped up a stake in Cotiviti in a deal valued at $11 billion.
The fine print: FT Partners also includes a SPAC deal — the $7.3 billion acquisition of Webull by SK Growth Opportunities — as an M&A deal.
