Why buying, not building, is winning fintech’s scale race

When entering a new market, should founders build from scratch or accelerate through acquisition?

It’s an age-old debate, with conventional wisdom long favoring building over buying as the more sustainable route. Ownership, control, and proprietary innovation were once the guideposts of success.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

But the realities of 2025 – with the cost of capital being high, companies staying private for longer, and funding becoming selective – have redefined what smart growth looks like. Increasingly, acquisition over greenfield building appears to be the answer to scaling fastest with the least capital risk.

I’ve seen both sides of the build‑or‑buy argument through Syfe’s expansion efforts, with the company starting from the ground up in Singapore and Hong Kong and acquiring Selfwealth in Australia. While both approaches have merit, the pace and certainty that come with acquisition are hard to ignore in today’s market.

Build-or-buy choices shape the entire business as it scales across borders. Making the wrong call can mean years of setbacks, misallocated capital, and squandered momentum. Here’s how to get it right.

Evaluating build vs. buy

Many founders instinctively default to “just build it” to retain full control, but in today’s market, that approach can be too slow, too costly, and too risky. With the fintech sector consolidating and market-entry windows tightening, building from scratch often leaves newcomers behind.

Context also matters. In Singapore and Hong Kong, building our own infrastructure worked for Syfe, given concentrated customer segments and manageable regulatory complexity. But those conditions were the exception, not the rule.

See also: Mapping the firms leaving a mark in China’s fintech race

Australia is a fundamentally different market.

Its investor landscape is highly developed, but a shrinking independent advisor sector has left a clear gap for fintech innovation. Going organic would have taken years, and with the market consolidating, we determined that our best bet was entering through acquisition.

For founders contemplating expansion via acquisition, here are the questions that anchored our decisions:

Is the business ready to take it on?

Before pursuing any acquisition, founders should assess if their core operations are strong enough to support expansion without losing focus. The added complexity of buying and integrating another company can dilute progress across the board.

Hard-earned lessons