Pulse of Fintech H1 2026

Fintech investment in the EMEA region softens considerably as large megadeals in short supply

Fintech investment in the EMEA region got off to a slow start in 2026 amid continued geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties. The region attracted $11.3 billion across 626 deals in H1’26.

Three PE deals accounted for the largest fintech transactions in the region during H1’26, all relatively modest in size: the $1.2 billion buyout of a Denmark-based digital investment bank, the $1 billion acquisition of a minority stake in a Belgium-based real-time trade intelligence company, and a $738.7 million growth round by a UK-based cross-border payments platform. In the Middle East, the largest rounds included a $250 million investment into a payments and data intelligence company and a $230 million seed round by a AI-native Islamic bank — both in the UAE. The largest deal in Africa was an $80 million VC raise by a Seychelles-based stablecoin platform.

UK attracts largest share of investment in the EMEA region in H1’26, but not largest deals

While Denmark and Belgium saw the largest fintech deals in H1’26 in the EMEA region, the UK continued to attract the largest volume of deals and share of total fintech investment in the region, with $2.5 billion across 205 deals, followed by Germany with $1.6 billion across 36 deals. The Middle East accounted for $1.4 billion across 50 deals, while jurisdictions in Africa attracted $403 million across 44 deals.

Digital assets space continues to heat up

Interest in the stablecoins and digital assets continued to pick up in H1’26, driven in part by the regulatory clarity provided by MiCA and the rush of companies looking to obtain their MiCA licenses before the end of the transitional period. Despite the increasing maturity of the digital assets space in the region, including growing interest and participation from traditional banks, lingering concerns remained over how to manage differing regulatory treatments of stablecoins and digital assets, and the resulting investor exposure.

Geopolitical and economic uncertainty put pressure on fintech investor sentiment in H1’26

H1’26 brought a fresh wave of uncertainties to the EMEA region, including increasing geopolitical tensions, new US tariff policies, and concerns over inflation and interest rates caused by the outbreak of war in the Middle East. These factors likely put an uncertainty on the sentiment of fintech investors across the region. In the UK, political changes and concerns about new wealth taxes also contributed to the lackluster investment.

Trends to watch for in H2’26

Growing investment and competition in the stablecoins and digital asset tokenization space as the sector continues to mature and gain traction.
Increasing interest in instant payments, particularly facilitated by tokenization, stablecoins, and corporate treasuries looking to improve working capital management.
Strengthening focus on the emerging area of agentic commerce.
The Scaleup Europe Fund and other government initiatives helping to spur larger investments in EU-based scale-ups as part of efforts to strengthen sovereign capabilities and decrease reliance on foreign capital.
How political and tax changes affect the fintech and broader investment market in
the UK.

The outlook for fintech investment in Europe remains cautious, with capital increasingly concentrated on proven and scalable businesses. For Finnish fintech companies, a clear path to profitability and the ability to turn technologies such as AI into tangible value will be critical.

Jussi Paski

Head of Startup & Venture Services

KPMG in Finland