Fintech New Zealand’s largest, fastest-growing tech-export sector

With global revenues of $2.64 billion, Kiwi fintech is the country’s largest and fastest-growing tech-export sector.

The figures come from the Technology Investment Network (TIN) New Zealand Fintech Report 2024, out today.

The report provides an update on TIN’s 2023 New Zealand tech sector survey data, including longitudinal growth, key markets, investment, and business spending trends. 

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TIN New Zealand Fintech Report 2024 insights include: 

• The New Zealand fintech sector has a ten-year compound annual growth (CAGR) of 32 percent; four times higher than the tech industry as a whole. Five-year compound annual growth is 24 percent, and the fintech sector grew by 27 percent, or $554 million, in the year to June 2023. 

• Eighty-four percent of fintech sector revenue was generated offshore in 2023 for total export revenue of $2.2 billion, up 28 percent or $485 on the year prior. Growth was driven by strong performances across North America (up 26 percent), Europe (up 29 percent), and Australia (up 30 percent). 

• Total fintech revenue has grown from $160 million in 2013 to $2.64 billion in 2023. Over the same period, the number of NZ fintech firms with over $5 million in revenue has more than tripled to 23.

• More than half the New Zealand fintech sector’s 8,857 staff are employed overseas, where hiring now outpaces local recruitment by more than 3:1.

• The country reached peak fintech investment of $186m in 2022, but funding fell sharply in 2023, down 89 percent to $21 million as deal volume halved. Of the $372 million total capital raised in the last three years, $224 million was from deals led by offshore investors.

• Fintech firms outspend their peers on R&D, with 20 percent of total revenue ($517 million) dedicated to developing new products, services, and markets; twice as much as the tech industry’s 10 percent average.

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TIN head of research and report author Alex Dickson says: “New Zealand’s flourishing fintech sector has been a stallion in sluggish economic times; it’s now the country’s largest tech export sector as well as its fastest growing. A decade ago, fintech revenues totalled about $150m, today we’re talking about a multi-billion-dollar earner, comparable to the wine industry in terms of value.

“This rapid growth is validated by interest from global dealmakers, both in terms of investment into the sector and acquisitions. The sector has seen half a billion dollars of investment over the last six years, while eleven of our most bankable multi-million-dollar fintechs have sold offshore in that time.”   

The next wave of innovation will come from open banking, an area in which New Zealand is running about seven years behind [globally], Dickson says.

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Minister of commerce and consumer affairs, Andrew Bayly, says open banking offers further opportunities for the fintech sector. 

“Open banking represents a paradigm shift, unlocking the potential for personalised financial services tailored to individual needs. Not only will consumers benefit, but small and medium enterprises will gain access to new products and services that will increase productivity and enable them to grow their businesses.”

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Copies of the 2024 New Zealand Fintech Report are available for free download here.

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