According to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 report:
- Global fintech investment rose from USD72.2 billion in H2 2025 to USD103.1 billion in H1 2026, putting the market on track to reach its highest annual investment level in four years.
- The number of deals declined from 2,500 to 2,100, with investors concentrating more capital in large, established fintech companies.
- The Americas alone attracted USD86.9 billion in investment, including USD80.8 billion in the United States.
- AI-related fintech deals in H1 2026 attracted USD21.4 billion across 800 transactions, nearly matching USD23.6 billion invested in 2025 as a whole.
- Payments sector once again saw the most fintech investment, attracting USD44.2 billion, while investment in digital assets reached USD11.1 billion.
Investors continue to back mature fintech businesses
Global fintech investment rose sharply in the first half of 2026, reaching USD103.1 billion across venture capital, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions, according to KPMG’s latest Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 report. Compared with USD72.2 billion total investment in H2 2025, this increase puts the global fintech market on track to reach its highest annual investment level in four years if the current pace continues.
However, this increase in overall investment was also accompanied by a decline in deal volume, with the number of global fintech deals falling from 2,500 in H2 2025 to 2,100 in H1 2026, as investors continued to focus on mature fintech companies with proven business models. The ten largest transactions in H1 2026 alone accounted for 62% of total fintech investment, equivalent to USD64 billion.
Global analysis of fintech funding
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The Americas drive global fintech growth
The Americas accounted for the majority of fintech investment growth in H1 2026, attracting USD86.9 billion in fintech funding (nearly doubling the USD47.1 billion in investment seen in H2 2025), with the United States representing USD80.8 billion of this regional total. By comparison, fintech investment in EMEA declined from USD18 billion to USD11.3 billion in the same period, while investment in the Asia-Pacific region fell from USD7.1 billion to USD4.6 billion.
M&A accounted for the largest share by global fintech investment type, with USD67.9 billion invested across 394 deals, while venture capital investment saw a total of USD31.5 billion across 1,641 deals. Private equity investment, meanwhile, saw overall investment increase from USD2.7 billion in H2 2025 to USD3.6 billion in H1 2026.
Payments sector leads investment, followed by Digital assets
Payments remained the largest fintech sector in terms of investment in H1 2026, attracting USD44.2 billion in investment and dominated by two large-scale deals above USD10 billion, namely Global Payments’ USD24.3 billion acquisition of Worldpay and FIS’ acquisition of Total System Services from Global Payments for USD13.5 billion.
Digital assets followed as the second-largest sector in terms of investment, attracting USD11.1 billion in investment, with growing participation on the part of institutional investors indicating a transition from a speculative market space to a sector that is increasingly being viewed as more mainstream, especially due to improved clarity in terms of relevant regulatory frameworks. Future growth will therefore be influenced by how the market continues to address investor concerns around scalability, interoperability, security and further regulatory implementation (specifically, the potential passing of US’ Digital Asset Market Clarity Act).
AI continues to drive new fintech investment
Artificial intelligence has become a critical driver of fintech investment in recent years, with AI-related deals attracting USD 21.4 billion across 800 transactions in H1 2026. According to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 report, AI should remain a predominant area of interest for investors across fintech subsectors and is expected to remain a top priority, particularly for companies seeking to drive operational efficiencies.
Relevance for Ukraine’s financial sector
For Ukrainian banks and fintech companies, KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 report offers a useful benchmark for understanding which technologies and sector are attracting the strongest investor interest globally and how Ukraine fits into this emerging market as a major technology player.
The first half of 2026 confirms that investor confidence in fintech has improved, although capital remains highly concentrated in larger and more established businesses. Strong interest in the payments infrastructure and digital assets sectors, as well as the implementation of deals directly related to artificial intelligence in the fintech sphere, all highlight areas where investors will continue to direct capital and where financial institutions could see practical opportunities for growth and efficiency. These trends will be closely watched by market participants around the world, including in Ukraine, as they continue to shape future investment decisions in the second half of the year and beyond.
Partner, Advisory, Head of Turnaround and Restructuring, Head of Financial Services
Looking ahead to H2 2026, KPMG expects the Payments sector, as well as AI, technology infrastructure, stablecoins, and digital assets to remain important areas of investor interest, while also highlighting growing attention paid to B2B and instant cross-border payments and settlements. Ancillary services such as cybersecurity, digital identity, and digital asset ecosystem development infrastructure will necessarily see increasing focus as they continue to grow in step with the increasing use of AI agentic commerce to make transactions on behalf of individuals and companies.
Pulse of Fintech is KPMG’s biannual analysis of global fintech funding, examining venture capital, private equity, and M&A activity globally and across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific regions specifically. Pulse of Fintech also covers developments in spheres such as payments, insurtech, cybersecurity, digital assets and currencies, regtech, wealthtech, and artificial intelligence. Figures in the report are based on PitchBook data as of 30 June 2026, unless otherwise stated.
