Pulse of Fintech H1 2026

Global fintech investment rebounded strongly in the first half of 2026, signalling renewed confidence in the sector despite ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. KPMG's latest Pulse of Fintech global report highlights a market increasingly focused on scale, resilience and proven value creation, with investment concentrated in areas such as AI, payments infrastructure, digital assets and regulatory technology. Global fintech investment reached US$103.1 billion in H1 2026, driven by growing investor confidence in mature business models and technologies that can deliver measurable outcomes.

For New Zealand organisations, many of these trends are already shaping strategic conversations. Financial institutions and fintechs are exploring how AI can improve productivity, strengthen risk management and enhance customer experiences, while the ongoing evolution of payment systems and digital asset infrastructure is creating new opportunities to modernise financial services. Against a backdrop of increasing regulatory complexity and cost pressures, the report suggests the next phase of fintech growth will be less about experimentation and more about scalable solutions that deliver tangible business value. For New Zealand leaders, the challenge will be balancing innovation with trust, security and operational resilience as the sector continues to evolve.

Fintech market globally sees $103.1 billion in H1 2026 with 2,100 deals.

In H1’26, we saw investment in fintech continue to gain momentum, building on the strong results seen during 2025.

Global fintech investment rose from $72.2 billion in H2’25 to $103.1 billion in H1’26, led by the $24.3 billion acquisition of a large global payments company.
The Americas continued to attract the largest share of fintech funding, with total investment rising from $47.1 billion in H2’25 to $86.9 billion in H1’26. The US accounted for $80.8 billion of the H1’26 total.
M&A accounted for the largest share of investment in H1’26, $67.9 billion across 394 deals, driven by two $10 billion+ acquisitions. Cross-border M&A activity was particularly notable, accounting for $20.2 billion of the H1’26 total as corporates and fintechs looked to expand their scale and capabilities across borders.
VC investment came second with $31.5 billion invested across 1,641 deals; while a minor dip next to H2’25, the current pace would see VC investment reach a four-year high by the end of 2026.
Global corporate VC investment in fintech reached $16.3 billion in H1’26, on pace for a four-year high by a substantial margin, despite deal volume falling to its lowest pace since 2017.

Nicola Raynes-Pene

National Industry Leader - Financial Services

KPMG in New Zealand

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Pulse of Fintech H1’2026

Biannual analysis of global fintech funding

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Pulse of Fintech H2’2025

Biannual analysis of global fintech funding.

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Fintech investment globally on positive trajectory with investment highly concentrated

Global fintech investment rose from $72.2 billion in H2’25 to $103.1 billion in H1’26, led by the $24.3 billion acquisition of a large payments company. Should this level of investment continue, the fintech market is well positioned to reach a
four-year investment high by the end of the year. The strong deal value amid softer deal activity reflects fintech investors continuing to concentrate their capital on fintechs with proven business models and those viewed as market leaders.

After several years of contraction, fintech investment is clearly finding its footing again. While deal volumes remain muted, the increase in capital deployed, and the resurgence of exits, signal growing investor confidence, particularly around scalable platforms in digital assets and AI. As liquidity improves, we expect this renewed momentum to translate into stronger deal activity over the year ahead.

Anton Ruddenklau

Global Lead of Fintech and Innovation, Financial Services

KPMG International

Fintech segments

Payments consolidation once again propels significant deal value

Investment in the payments space jumped in H1’26, reaching $44.2 billion compared to the $20.2 billion seen during all of 2025. The vast majority of the uptick came from an outlier deal: the $24.3 billion acquisition of a global payments company. This deal is reflective of a broader capital allocation theme we’ve seen over the last 18 months.

Investors remain confident in payments, but they are choosing to deploy larger amounts of capital to fewer transactions, and favoring scaled, profitable, and infrastructure-focused businesses over early-stage speculative investments. This trend is also reflected in the continued slide in deal volume; there were 168 payments deals in H1’26, compared to an already subdued 577 in 2025.

Insurtech space attracts $3.7 billion in investment during H1’26

After reaching a four-year high of $9.8 billion in 2025, driven largely by a small number of outsized deals rather than by a more broad-based improvement, total investment in insurtech fell to $3.7 billion in H1’26. Deal volume was particularly soft at 124 deals globally; should this trend continue, it will be the weakest deal volume since 2016. The slowdown is not a failure, so much as an industry shift driven by maturation of the space, the introduction of AI, and the increasing need for insurtechs to move from providing simple fix solutions to ones able to address more complex, complicated industry challenges.

Fintech-focused cybersecurity investment remains steady in H1’26

Global investment in fintech-focused cybersecurity firms was $550 million in H1’26; while steady next to the level of investment seen during 2025 ($1 billion), it remained soft compared to previous years. Deal activity was particularly slow in the cybersecurity space, on track for a six-year low with just 44 deals at mid-year.

VC investment saw the largest share of cybersecurity funding, accounting for the three largest deals globally during H1’26: the $180 million VC raise by a US-based business intelligence and governed communication platform, the $120 million raise by a UK-based crypto compliance, analytics, and threat intelligence company, and the $73 million raise by a India-based identity verification and fraud detection platform.

Digital assets space remains hot, with $11.1 billion in investment in H1’26

During H1’26, total global investment in the digital assets space was $11.1 billion across 467 deals; while down compared to the $21.9 billion across 1,335 deals seen during all of 2025, this total remained very robust, exceeding annual totals from both 2023 and 2024. The US accounted for more than half of the total investment in digital assets seen in H1’26 ($5.9 billion), despite accounting for less than half of deals volume (187).

The largest deals in the digital assets and crypto space occurred in the US, including a $1.2 billion raise by a US-based prediction market, and a $635 million seed round by a new US nationally chartered bank focused primarily on providing niche services related to defensetech, compute tech, and advanced manufacturing. The largest deal in the EMA region was a $175 million VC raise by France-based on-chain lending network provider, while the largest in the ASPAC region was a $150 million raise by Australia-based perpetual futures trading platform.

Regtech on steady course with $2.9 billion in global investment during H1’26

During H1’26, regtech attracted $2.9 billion in total global investment; this was a slightly stronger pace of investment compared to the $4.8 billion seen during 2025, despite deal volume, 133 deals in H1’26, falling to its lowest level since 2017. The Americas attracted the majority of regtech investment, including the three largest deals of H1’26: a $385 million raise by tax compliant savings solutions platform, a $200 million raise by AI-powered AML/KYC risk intelligence company, and the acquisition of a Brazil-based B2B banking and risk management technology company for $178.1 million. A UK-based blockchain analytics and crypto compliance company’s $120 million VC raise was the largest regtech deal in the EMEA region, while a $70 million raise by China-based global trade payments and risk management company was the largest in the ASPAC region.

VC, PE and M&A investment in wealthtech incredibly soft in H1’26

Investment in the wealthtech space remained incredibly soft, at least in terms of VC, PE and M&A deals during H1’26. During the period, 32 wealthtech deals accounted for just $220 million globally, down from $1.4 billion across 74 deals in all of 2025. Should this weak trend continue, the space could see the lowest level of investment since 2018.

Deal sizes in the space were quite small during H1’26, with the largest transaction a $42.5 million PE growth round by a US-based asset management platform. The largest wealthtech-specific round in the EMEA region was particularly small: a $13.9 million raise by a Denmark-based scalable wealth management operating platform.

AI-focused fintechs attract $21.4 billion in deal value across VC, PE, and M&A

AI remained a predominant theme for investors across fintech, particularly corporates looking to drive efficiencies. During H1’26, AI-related deals attracted $21.4 billion across 800 deals, just shy of the $23.6 billion seen during all of 2025.

In the Americas, particularly in the US and Canada, AI continued to be a dominant investment theme, with many investors looking to it as an opportunity to drive operational efficiencies and value creation in areas like fraud prevention and AI-enabled payments