6 fintech investors sound off on AI, down rounds and what’s ahead

August 18, 2023 ndowd

At the height of the funding boom in 2021, no single sector enjoyed as much VC money as fintech startups did. But in 2023, it appears that fintech companies have to work harder to get funding.

Global funding in the space hit a six-year low in the second quarter, according to CB Insights. Specifically, following a spike in funding in the first quarter driven by Stripe’s outlier $6.5 billion round, global fintech funding declined 48% to $7.8 billion in Q2 2023.

Valuations have also taken a hit. With only a few exceptions, once-valuable fintech firms have seen their valuations drop significantly, based on secondary share activity as analyzed by Notice.co, which offers a pricing tool for the private markets.

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As such, it’s no surprise that artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic of conversation in the space, as companies work to incorporate it into their offerings — some more meaningfully than others — in an attempt to stand out.

“We’ve seen many of our portfolio companies adopt AI to increase efficiency, improve automation, and enable faster communication with their customers,” said Lizzie Guynn, a partner at TTV Capital.

But Hans Tung, a managing partner at GGV, warned that just because AI is the hot sector of the moment, investors should not invest in it blindly. “AI is . . . overhyped. AI is central to the core business in some companies, and in others it is simply a supporting character,” he said. “We value domain knowledge and information on how to best apply technical solutions to solve customer pain points, be it consumers or enterprises.”

Overall, navigating the venture landscape as a fintech startup in today’s market requires resilience, perseverance and a more responsible frame of thinking around growth. It’s clear that investors are taking more time to evaluate deals than they were during the funding boom.

Aditi Maliwal, a partner at Upfront Ventures, explained how investors in the space are thinking: “We’re able to take a little bit more time to get to an investment decision, as processes aren’t happening in 24 hours like they did at some point in 2020!”

To help TechCrunch+ readers understand what fintech investors are thinking these days, as well as what you should know before approaching them, we interviewed six active investors over the last couple of weeks. Plus, they were gracious enough to share some of the advice they’re giving to their portfolio companies.

We spoke with:

Mark Goldberg, partner, Index Ventures
Aditi Maliwal, partner, Upfront Ventures
Hans Tung, managing partner, GGV Capital
Lizzie Guynn, partner, TTV Capital
Ed Yip, partner, Norwest Venture Partners
Lauren Kolodny, co-founder and partner, Acrew Capital

Mark Goldberg, partner, Index Ventures

Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence. If a company isn’t already using it, they’re looking for ways to incorporate it into their operations. What is getting the thumbs-up and what’s not in the theme of the moment?

What’s been surprising to me about AI in fintech is how much of it seems to be under the hood (automating rote internal tasks) rather than facing externally (flashy new features). This means that many of the most AI-forward companies may not be the most obvious ones.

Over the years, we have seen many startups, especially neobanks, focusing on very niche segments of the population. What are your thoughts on such specific offerings? Is it a good strategy to be so specific and what do you need to do to be successful if so?

The biggest evolution in consumer finance in the last decade has been for people to see their banks as extensions of their own personal brand, like their clothes, car or music. So, it’s a great strategy and we’ll be surprised by the depth and loyalty of these “niche” communities.

Do you expect to see more down rounds in 2023? Are you seeing more companies raising extensions or down rounds compared to 2021 and 2022?

More down rounds are coming. Supply and demand are still out of equilibrium, and I expect that will change as company balance sheets dwindle.

What are you most excited about in the fintech space? What do you feel might be overhyped? Is anything hyped at this point in the cycle?!

I think the fintech tourists are gone, and it takes real conviction in this market to build and invest. Banking today is harder than it should be, especially for the tens of millions of people who don’t have access to traditional financial services.

How do you prefer to receive pitches? What’s the most important thing a founder should know before they get on a call with you?

There’s often one chart or slide that defines a pitch. Cut the noise (and the 30-slide deck) and focus on the one thing that matters most to your story.

Aditi Maliwal, partner, Upfront Ventures

Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence. If a company isn’t already using it, they’re looking for ways to incorporate it into their operations. What are your thoughts on this? What is getting the thumbs-up and what’s not in the theme of the moment?

Every company will adopt AI as another technology that enhances their existing offering. I don’t think of investing in AI companies as any different from people saying in the mid-2000s that they were investing in the internet or investing in mobile. AI is now a new paradigm that everyone is going to adopt. We know that most companies have already been using data to make decisions, so now they are going to be using open source models to help make faster and more efficient decisions.

That said, a couple of categories are getting a lot of attention in and around the fintech ecosystem:

Copilot solutions for everyone in financial services: While I’m not sure a lot of them are getting funded, I still think the biggest companies will come after this category and provide solutions.
Creating synthetic users for fraud detection: This is a really big use case that can provide a lot of value. We basically have generative fraud at this point, so you need the right type of generative software to combat the constantly changing fraudulent activities/players.

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