Pulse of Fintech H1 2026: Americas

Americas attracts $86.9 billion in fintech investment in H1’26

The Americas saw fintech investment rise substantially, from $47.1 billion across 1,315 deals in H2’25 to $86.9 billion across 1,120 deals in H1’26. The US accounted for $80.8 billion of this total across 933 deals, including the 10 largest transactions so far this year, led by the acquisition of a large global payments company for $24.3 billion, the acquisition of a Columbus based payment solutions provider for $13.5 billion, and the $8.4 billion buyout of investment management platform company by a consortium.

Outside of the US, the largest fintech deals in the region included the acquisition of a majority stake of the Mexican based consumer credit business for $659.9 million, a $405 million VC raise by a Mexican digital bank, and a $218.6 million VC raise by Canada-based digital mortgage lender.

M&A activity buoyant as strategic corporates stay active

Within the Americas, M&A activity more than doubled from $27.4 billion to $64.6 billion. Even taking out the top two deals, which together accounted for $37.7 billion, M&A deal value was quite robust as strategics, particularly in the US, showed increasing interest in selling off their non-core businesses and making acquisitions aimed at geographic or product expansion. After an extended period of being challenged by valuation gaps and other uncertainties, PE activity also started to open up again in the Americas during H1’26, particularly among mid-market firms.

Trends to watch for in H2’26

AI continuing to be a very hot area of investment, particularly as companies look to improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and optimize activities like fraud prevention and payment routing.
VC and PE investors focusing less on growth potential in the current market and more on the durability and resilience of business models, particularly as AI continues to disrupt SaaS businesses and reduces barriers to entry in fintech.
Corporate investment holding strong as companies look to rapidly build capabilities and scale, including multi-rail payment and money movement capabilities.
Growing focus on areas like cybersecurity and fraud prevention, particularly as the stablecoins and digital assets space continues to evolve.
Increasing consolidation among mid-sized fintechs targeting the same subsectors in order to drive scale and profitability.
Whether the CLARITY Act passes in the US could have a major impact on investment, deals activity, exits, and post IPO performance of digital asset-focused companies.

There’s still strong interest in AI, particularly agentic AI, but investors are becoming more focused on specialized solutions with clear business value. We're moving beyond general-purpose use cases to applications that can transform how organizations operate and compete. As adoption grows, the biggest winners will likely be those that can use AI to improve efficiency, accelerate decision-making, reduce risk, or create a meaningful competitive edge.

Dubie Cunningham

Partner, Banking and Capital Markets

KPMG in Canada