The Missing Middle of Bangladesh Fintech
The path forward lies in unlocking mid-stage capital and new categories
When I look at startup ecosystems around the world, every country has that one vertical that defines its early story.
Silicon Valley began with semiconductors before it expanded into software.
India’s story was written by IT outsourcing, which created an entire generation of entrepreneurs.
Nigeria had digital banking, which became the wedge that pulled millions into the tech economy.
Bangladesh?
The story begins with fintech. It was always going to be this way. In a country where most people own a phone but don’t have a bank account, money was the obvious starting point. The need was urgent, the opportunity was massive, and fintech became the first real proving ground for venture capital in Dhaka.
The Big Picture
Fintech is not just one of many verticals in Bangladesh. It is the vertical that carries the ecosystem’s reputation, the one that brought in the largest checks, and the one that gave us our first global headlines.
81 deals in fintech, the most of any sector
$510M raised, over half of all startup capital in Bangladesh
$2.2M average valuation, showing how early we still are
$250M SoftBank into Bkash, the country’s defining deal
Two companies stand out: Bkash and ShopUp. They are the category leaders that showed the world what Bangladeshi fintech could look like at scale. But beneath them, a second wave is starting to form — smaller, less known, but equally important in showing how fintech is diversifying.
Priyoshop – $9M, B2B commerce
SureCash – $7M, payments
Ifarmer– $3M, Agri-fintech
PayWell – $2M, infrastructure
Zatiq – $1.6M, retail fintech
The Shape of Capital
This is where Bangladesh looks different from other markets. In India or Indonesia, venture funds drive the bulk of activity. Here, it has been accelerators doing the heavy lifting. That shapes the way companies grow, the kind of support they get, and the kind of capital they have access to.
Accelerating Asia and Smart Bangladesh Accelerator most active
Four of top five ACTIVE backers are accelerators,
not fundsLocal VCs like
SBK Tech Ventureshas announced deals but founders didn’t have cash in Bank
SoftBank’s $250M into Bkash is the outlier at the top
The missing middle: no steady $5M–$20M growth checks
For founders, this means either staying small or going global early to raise. For investors, it highlights a structural opportunity.
The Slowdown
Momentum has slowed. The ecosystem once had steady, if modest, deal flow. But the last year has shown how fragile that pipeline can be.
Average of ~2 deals per year
Only 1 deal in 2024
Concentration in payments and supply chain finance
The slowdown reflects global venture headwinds, but also something more specific: investors want to see new stories, not just repeats of the old ones.
Lessons From SEA
When I look across Southeast Asia, one thing stands out: every market started with payments, but then quickly expanded into new categories. That’s where the real momentum came from. Bangladesh hasn’t made that leap yet.
Indonesia – wallets like GoPay (GoTo) and OVO, but also Xendit in payments infrastructure, and Pinhome in proptech-fintech lending
Philippines – crypto-driven remittances with Coins.ph, mainstream wallets like PayMaya (now Maya Bank), and cross-border platforms targeting the OFW diaspora
Vietnam – gaming-linked finance with Axie Infinity (Sky Mavis), digital banking from Timo and MoMo, and experiments in embedded finance at scale
Bangladesh is still thin in all of these. That is the opportunity.
No blockchain finance yet
No gaming + fintech
No proptech-finance hybrids
No serious HR/payroll fintech
What Comes Next
The next Bangladeshi unicorn will not look like Bkash. It will be something new, built in the gaps we’ve ignored so far. Founders will need to take bigger swings, and investors will need to step into spaces that feel riskier but have already been validated elsewhere.
Founders – use accelerators as launchpads, but build for bigger TAMs (remittances, SME credit, embedded finance)
Investors – step into the missing middle; growth checks are where the upside lies
Ecosystem – push for blockchain, gaming, proptech-finance to leapfrog
Bangladesh already proved fintech works. Now the challenge is to prove it can transform.
