Pulse of Fintech H1’2025
Looking back over H1’25, it’s clear that fintech investors were incredibly selective with their dealmaking. Key trends we saw during H1’25 included:
1. A surge in digital asset investments globally.
2. A growing focus on AI-enablement of fintechs — either AI native or AI transformation of existing fintech platforms.
3. A rise in IPO exit activity in the US with expectations for more significant listings in H2.
4. Regtech is gaining traction as institutions look to reduce costs.
Global fintech investment experiences lowest six-month period in five years
The global fintech market saw $44.7 billion in investment during H1’25 — the lowest six-month period since H1’20. The impact of higher interest rates on the cost of capital and expectation of returns has removed more speculative investing and reset fintech investment to a new baseline. While fintech investors were cautiously optimistic entering 2025, new swells of geopolitical tensions combined with shifting US tariff and trade policies made it difficult for investors to feel confident in their dealmaking activities. Q2’25 was particularly soft, with just $18.7 billion invested across 972 deals — a volume of deals not seen since Q3’17.
Americas attracts over half of fintech investment in H1’25, but EMEA sees the largest deal
The Americas attracted $26.7 billion in fintech investment in H1’25, led by the $2.6 billion acquisition of US-based Next Insurance by Ergo Group, the primary insurance business of Munich Re1 and the $2 billion VC raise by Cayman Islands-based Binance. Comparatively, the EMEA region saw $13.7 billion, including the year’s largest fintech deal so far — the $3.2 billion buyout of UK-based Preqin by BlackRock2 — and the $1.7 billion take-private of France-based Esker by Bridgepoint.3 The ASPAC region saw just $4.3 billion in fintech investment, led by the acquisition of Japan-based WealthNavi by MUFG for $571.3 million.4
Digital assets and currencies on track for three-year high
At a sector level, digital assets and currencies attracted the most fintech investment globally this half year — $8.4 billion, compared to $10.7 billion during all of 2024 — led by a $2 billion raise by Grand Caymans-based crypto exchange Binance. At mid-year, the digital asset space was well positioned to achieve a three-year high in global investment — although it will likely remain well shy of 2021’s peak high of $31 billion. Investors showed particular interest in stablecoins, particularly in activities such as trading, remittances, and as a source of payment in emerging markets. Other investment areas include digital asset market infrastructure and tokenization platforms. During H1’25, the digital asset space also saw the incredibly successful IPO of USDC stablecoin issuer Circle; it raised $1.1 billion on the NYSE, with shares popping 168 percent in first day trading. Other US based digital asset platforms are likely to IPO in the second half of the year.
