The president of France FinTech and the founder of the Truffle Capital investment fund analyze the numerous merger-acquisition operations affecting the sector.
It’s not just the supermarket that you can do your shopping. There fintech The European market also resembles an open-air market, where there is no shortage of good deals. At least that’s what an Avolta study published in April suggests. According to this report from the investment bank specializing in European tech, 399 exit operations were recorded in fintech on the old continent in 2025. A level significantly higher than previous years (197 in 2024, 183 in 2023 and 210 in 2022). Another notable element: almost 90% of these exits correspond to merger-acquisition operations. These figures reflect a dynamic of market consolidation, but not only that.
“The figures are impressive,” confirms Bernard-Louis Roques, co-founder of Truffle Capital, an investment fund specializing in fintech. But it is above all the number of operations, more than their size, which stands out: “In absolute value, the amounts remain limited, around $10 billion, far from the more than $50 billion observed before the 2021-2022 crisis. The average deals are smaller, with an average of $28 million. On the other hand, the valuation multiples are recovering, around 4.2 times the turnover. This shows that the market resists the SaaSpocalypse well.
Maturity and platformization
Around ten years after the debut of the main fintech companies, the sector is “reaching maturity”, according to Alain Clot, president of the France FinTech association. “For them, the priority is to reach a profitable critical size, which can be achieved through acquisitions.” Our expert also sees the explosion in the number of M&A as a reflection of the platformization phenomenon: “The most ambitious players are transforming themselves into financial services platforms and some of them are buying fintechs to add a new brick to their offering.” A movement particularly illustrated by the convergence between comptatech and neobanking, as shown by the purchase of Regate accounting software by Qonto.
If mergers and acquisitions have experienced such an increase, we also owe it to the wide variety of buyers. Fintech, corporates, investment funds: everyone is jostling at the gate to find the best opportunity. “One in two buyers is a fintech. We are also observing certain majority acquisitions of investment funds, with a view to acceleration. This formula appeals to entrepreneurs because it allows them to concentrate on commercial development and management. Finally, banks and insurers are regaining interest in the acquisition of fintechs. The movement had slowed down a little, but it is starting again today”, analyzes Alain Clot. Two final points illustrated by the acquisition of the management platform for SMEs Fortnox by the Swedish fund EQT and that of the financial management specialist Anytime by Crédit Coopératif.
Anglo-Saxon buyers
In addition to the nature of the buyers, their nationality also deserves to be analyzed. According to Bernard-Louis Roques, the deals were carried out by Anglo-Saxon buyers. “If the multiples start to rise again, they remain even lower than in the United States or the United Kingdom. The European market represents for them the opportunity to make a good deal.” As an example, we can cite the acquisition of the SmartTrade trading platform by the American fund TA Associates.
Regardless, the wave of M&A sends a positive signal for the sector: “The market is regaining liquidity, which was necessary. There was a real need to return capital to shareholders. If the multiples remain lower than those before the covid crisis, they remain at levels far from humiliating, including for the smallest fintechs.” There remains a small black spot: “IPOs are still few in number. But the conditions for a resumption of IPOs now seem to be met,” indicates Alain Clot. Read in the next episode.
