• Edvards Margevics, CBDO & Partner at Concryt


• 14.07.2025 04:15 am
#IPOFreeze #ExitMarket

There was a time when a fintech IPO was the ultimate signal of scale, ambition, and market validation. Today, that same move can raise more questions than confidence.

With global IPO volume at its lowest in nine years, (down 9.3% year-on-year to $44.3 billion), public markets have become unpredictable terrain. Even well-prepared fintechs face post-listing volatility, valuation pressure, and shifting investor sentiment. But for infrastructure fintechs, this isn’t a moment of retreat, it’s one of recalibration and even opportunity.

Growth Has a New Definition

Fast exits and inflated valuations have given way to a slower, more strategic, and ultimately more sustainable approach to growth. Infrastructure fintechs - those powering the financial system’s core through APIs, rails, and compliance tooling - are uniquely positioned for this era.

Rather than chasing hype, they’re focused on building durable value and earning customer trust. Their growth is grounded in solving real-world, technical problems at scale, from KYC orchestration to real-time payment settlement. And it’s paying off.

With IPO windows largely shut, late-stage funding is not just scarce, but more rigorous. Investors have shifted priorities: they want cash-efficient models, high retention, and a clear line to profitability. Infrastructure fintechs, built from day one with enterprise stability and regulatory alignment in mind, are well suited to this shift.

This is a sharp departure from the “hot” IPO cycles of previous years, where investor enthusiasm and inflated valuations often masked fundamental weaknesses. Divergence of opinion among investors, where bullish and bearish views collide, frequently led to pricing volatility and long-term underperformance. In today’s cooler market, fintechs focused on technical excellence and regulatory trust are proving more resilient.

As a result, founders are rethinking how and when they raise capital. The growth-at-all-costs mentality has been replaced with milestone-driven fundraising, pragmatic burn rates, and strategic investor partnerships that bring operational expertise, not just capital.

M&A and Strategic Partnerships Take Centre Stage

As IPO timelines stretch further out, mergers and acquisitions are emerging as not just fallback options, but preferred paths to scale. For infrastructure fintechs, M&A isn’t an exit of last resort, but a platform for acceleration.

By partnering strategically or embedding into larger ecosystems, these fintechs can avoid market whiplash and create long-term value outside of the traditional IPO path.

Incumbents and corporate development teams are actively scouting for infrastructure players with differentiated technology, regulatory fluency, and clean, scalable architecture. Fintechs that are M&A-ready with mature compliance, robust systems, and a clear go-to-market, are seizing these opportunities to embed deeper into the financial stack.

Built to Last, Not Just to Launch

The standout fintechs of this era aren’t chasing attention; they’re engineering resilience. Infrastructure fintechs, often operating behind the scenes, are setting a new standard for what it means to scale: not through hype, but through hard-won trust, defensible IP, and technical excellence.

Their edge lies in deep regulatory understanding, a relentless focus on interoperability, and a refusal to cut corners on architecture. These are companies optimised not for exit speed, but for system-critical endurance.

This market reset has forced us to look at what truly matters. When the noise fades, what remains is signal, and it’s coming from the infrastructure fintechs building the foundations of modern finance.

They aren’t waiting for conditions to improve. They’re thriving in the conditions, precisely because they were built for them. In a market where fortitude beats flash, the infrastructure players with long-term vision, technical credibility, and executional discipline are shaping the future of finance - sustainably, strategically, and on their own terms.