Snapshot of the FinTech sector in Spain
Fecha: febrero 2020
Santiago Carbó Valverde, Pedro Cuadros Solas, Francisco Rodríguez Fernández
Fintech, Sector bancario
Spanish and International Economic & Financial Otlook, SEFO, V. 9 N.º 1
The FinTech sector has sustained considerable growth in Spain in recent years, measured by both the number of players and the private investment it has attracted. In fact, FinTech firms raised 192.93 million euros in 2019, equivalent to an average of over 4 million euros per round of financing. Most firms are the result of entrepreneurial activity based in Spain’s largest cities, such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Specifically, 93% of existing FinTech firms were established by groups of entrepreneurs, with just under 7% founded within an existing enterprise. The sector is primarily concentrated around four segments: credit, payments, investments and personal finance management. Many of these offerings are B2B solutions, with FinTech firms supporting the digitalisation of Spain’s SMEs. While the initial expectation was that the Fintech players and banks would compete, there has been a marked shift towards collaboration among these two types of firms. Most notably, the banking sector frequently invests in FinTech start-ups and sponsors accelerators or incubators to support these firms in the early stages of their development.