Global FinTech investments reached a record US$210B across 5,684 deals in 2021. The massive investment inflows into the FinTech ecosystem led many players to overestimate their growth potential and focus on scaling fast to exploit the massive digital adoption by consumers and businesses in the wake of the pandemic.Rapid and cheap access to capital coupled with bullish estimates of the market opportunity, and favourable customer behaviour meant aggressive hiring, hopeful investments in new product lines, extravagant marketing campaigns, and accelerated geographic expansion. Riding on the high, few anticipated the gloomy valley of an economic downturn and swift reversals to pre-pandemic behaviours that 2022 had in store.Snap Back to Reality2022 has witnessed a blizzard of tech layoffs, and the FinTech industry was no exception. The reasons for layoffs cited varied, ranging from macroeconomic conditions to industry shifts to company-level factors.Macroeconomic factors cited include a looming recession, rising inflation, reduced consumer spending, and reversion to pre-covid behaviours. These reasons were cited by companies like Klarna and TrueLayer.Industrial factors cited were shrinking venture funding, nosediving valuations in public and private markets and heightened regulatory scrutiny. For example, Blend Labs slashed its payroll amid major mortgage industry turmoil.Company factors mentioned include cost reduction mandates, […]