FC Market Views
The Web3 fintech landscape has evolved from simple, single-use models toward integrated, multi-service platforms that prioritize infrastructure reliability and regulatory compliance. As companies mature, we observe that companies are not just developing their solutions but they are also actively expanding their offerings by combining different features to scale their size and product strength, either organically (fundraising and growth route) or inorganically (acquisition and consolidation).
The Funded Web3 Business Model Evolution
Fintech has always been an industry that is always progressing, as there are always changes in companies’ offerings from year to year to match the ever-changing demand. As we covered in our previous post, “Southeast Asia FinTech Funding’s Next Phase”, we note down how the recent fundraising landscape looks like recently and we found strong activities in fintech Web3 and its integration to different existing fintech functions. Moving further than just getting more integrated to traditional financial system, the fintech Web3 vertical has also advanced itself from year to year. This signals forward-looking innovation and evolution of the core tech itself as well as the demand from market.
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Since 2022, the Web3 fintech landscape in Southeast Asia has undergone a meaningful shift in the types of businesses attracting investment, moving away from simple, single-use models toward more sophisticated, full-suite offerings as companies compete to capture larger customer bases and establish themselves as end-to-end solutions.
Web2 and Web3 in FinTech Collided
Diving deeper into the Web3 FinTech fundraising landscape, we found that Web3 companies with a Web2 angle have more activity in terms of fundraising in SEA, which evidently mimics the global trend as well.
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Upon our findings and benchmarking to global FinTech development, we note that one of the key drivers of the Web3-Web2 trend is rising because there is an apparent acceleration in the integration of Web3 into traditional financial systems, with more global financial institutions actively enabling digital asset trading and custody, such as:
This increasing uptake signals Web3’s evolution from a niche area into a core part of the broader financial ecosystem, which is also slowly reflected in startup models where companies are doing more models overlapping with ‘real-world use cases’.
Diving deeper into the actual fundraised deals in SEA, we sampled Web3 FinTech deals to understand the actual pattern and trend. We found that most of the deals are dominated by wealth management and trading-type models. This uptick may be driven by Web3’s influence on evolving asset strategies, such as decentralized investing, followed by the launch of more regulated crypto investment products, as well as the increasing inclusion of retail users besides just institutional clients. Here, we saw companies incorporating digital assets as a part of their asset offering alongside other traditional assets and providing solutions/advisory to adjust to retail investors’ risk appetite, making digital assets more attractive and down-to-earth for users.
The second growing area is payment, where stablecoin has been the go-to asset for payment due to its stable nature. Similar to wealth management and trading, the payment space is also trying to provide more solutions for retail users. The main difference is that payment deals show more maturity, as there are more notable deals in the growth stage instead of new deals coming up. The direction is likely leaning more towards a more holistic product offering, licensing, and client acquisition.
Diving deeper into the actual fundraised deals in SEA, we sampled Web3 FinTech deals to understand the actual pattern and trend. We found that most of the deals are dominated by wealth management and trading-type models. This uptick may be driven by Web3’s influence on evolving asset strategies, such as decentralized investing, followed by the launch of more regulated crypto investment products, as well as the increasing inclusion of retail users besides just institutional clients. Here, we saw companies incorporating digital assets as a part of their asset offering alongside other traditional assets and providing solutions/advisory to adjust to retail investors’ risk appetite, making digital assets more attractive and down-to-earth for users.
The second growing area is payment, where stablecoin has been the go-to asset for payment due to its stable nature. Similar to wealth management and trading, the payment space is also trying to provide more solutions for retail users. The main difference is that payment deals show more maturity, as there are more notable deals in the growth stage instead of new deals coming up. The direction is likely leaning more towards a more holistic product offering, licensing, and client acquisition.
The Trend: Globalization and Normalization of Web3 FinTech
In this space, we notice more globalization in terms of expansion, with Singapore as their headquarter. As the Web3 market is still emerging, expanding to regions outside of SEA is necessary to acquire enough market share and stay competitive. A few popular markets include Europe, the US, and East Asia. This phenomenon has led to a more global cap table as well.
Other than the deal itself, we also observed that more and more non-Web3-focused institutional investors began looking at this vertical. One of the reasons why institutional investors became more confident in this segment is the fact that, as stated before, more traditional financial institutions are incorporating digital assets into their products or operations. More startups are also emerging in the market, serving different needs and demands. Normalization of Web3 and digital asset usage signals that the segment is becoming widely adopted and gaining tangible market depth globally. As adoption scales, this then becomes something that institutional investors need to bet on to stay afloat on the trend and capture opportunities early.
Other than the deal itself, we also observed that more and more non-Web3-focused institutional investors began looking at this vertical. One of the reasons why institutional investors became more confident in this segment is the fact that, as stated before, more traditional financial institutions are incorporating digital assets into their products or operations. More startups are also emerging in the market, serving different needs and demands. Normalization of Web3 and digital asset usage signals that the segment is becoming widely adopted and gaining tangible market depth globally. As adoption scales, this then becomes something that institutional investors need to bet on to stay afloat on the trend and capture opportunities early.
As Web3 and digital assets gain broader acceptance, we expect continued growth and evolution across the FinTech ecosystem. As the deals mature, we may also expect a clearer demand pattern as well as potential consolidation between deals.
Source: Crunchbase, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, OSKVI Research Series, FinTech in ASEAN 2025 by UOB, PwC, SFA