Pulse of Fintech H2 2025: EMEA

EMEA region sees $29.2 billion in fintech investment in 2025, despite eight-year low in deal volume

After falling to an eight-year low in 2024, fintech investment in the EMEA region picked up to $29.2 billion in 2025 despite a continued slowdown in deals from 1,803 to an eight-year low of 1,484 year-over-year. Both deal value and deal volume were softer in H2’25, with $13.8 billion in investment across 617 deals.

The largest deals in the EMEA region during H2’25 included the $3 billion VC raise by UK-based financial services platform Revolut¹, and the $2.5 billion take private of Israel-based SaaS insurance services firm Sapiens International by Advent.² In the Middle East, the largest deals came from VC raises by Saudi Arabia-based B2B payments provider Hala ($157 million)³ and UAE-based digital real estate transactions firm Huspy ($59 million).⁴ In Africa, the largest deal was a $15.5 million raise by Morocco-based B2B e-commerce and financial services firm Chari.⁵

UK attracts largest share of fintech investment in Europe in 2025

The UK attracted the largest share of fintech investment in Europe in 2025 — $10.9 billion in fintech investment across 418 deals — despite a decline from $13.3 billion across 527 deals in 2024. The Nordics region came second with a very strong $5.3 billion across 101 deals; of this total, Sweden accounted for $4.8 billion. Meanwhile Israel attracted $2.7 billion in fintech investment, France saw $1 billion, and Germany accounted for $965.8 million.

Fintech hubs in the Middle East and Africa continue to develop

The Middle East continued to emerge as a fintech hub in 2025, with total fintech investment rising from $741.4 million across 161 deals to $1 billion across 135 deal year over year. While completed fintech deal activity was soft in Africa — falling from $512.5 million across 126 deals to $370.4 million across 95 deals year-over-year, it remains a region of interest for fintech investors — particularly in the payments space.

Trends to watch for in H1’26

Very strong focus on AI-driven solutions, with large financial institutions in particular looking at ways to use AI to accelerate innovations — although some investors are concerned about whether there’s a bubble. In some cases, it’s still unclear how these businesses will ultimately make money, or profitability remains a distant prospect. That’s fueling concerns that valuations may be driven more by story and hype than by durable revenue generation.
Regulations increasingly shaping the use of digital assets, helping drive confidence and further investment in the space.
Increased momentum towards a European payments infrastructure that is less dependent on US players with the European Payment Initiative (EPI) rolling out its e-commerce solution beyond Germany, expanding to Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, and with EU legislators expected to adopt the regulation establishing the digital euro.
Some consolidation among smaller digital assets-focused fintechs given the costs associated with complying with MiCA and other regulations.
Growth of tokenization, particularly stablecoins, deposit tokens and interoperability of such services across regulatory regimes, currencies and ecosystems.

The UK fintech market showed resilience in the second half of 2025. While overall funding volumes were still down on earlier years, London continues to dominate European fintech investment especially with later stage deals such as FNZ and Rapyd. This coupled with the rise in M&A activity in the UK shows a strengthening market, and positive signs for 2026.

Hannah Dobson

Head of Fintech, Partner, Indirect Tax

KPMG in the UK