For the year under review, there were 39 VC-backed fintech unicorns worth a combined $147.37 billion. Q4’18 saw five new unicorns births (Plaid, Brex, Monzo, DevotedHealth, and Toss) and two in the first month of Q1’19. South America reached a turning point in the eyes of investors in 2018, despite political turmoil across the region. The region saw funding top $540million across 55 deals, both a new yearly record. Despite strain, Brazil-based NuBank, became South America’s first unicorn and closed out 2018 with a $90 million investment from Tencent.

Source: The Guardian February 06, 2019 03:00 UTC