Fintech investments and deals slow to $44.7b in H1 2025

But the digital assets space has amassed nearly equal to its total 2024 investments.

Fintech investments and deals slowed considerably in the first half of 2025 on ongoing geopolitical tensions and trade policies, said KPMG.

Total fintech investment— including mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity (PE), and venture capital (VC) investment— fell to $44.7b across 2,216 deals during the period.

In contrast, total fintech investment was $54.2b across 2,376 deals in H2 2024.

“Given the geopolitical situation globally, much of the fintech investment we’ve seen so far in 2025 has been very strategic, rather than broad-brush speculative investments,” said Anton Ruddenklau, lead of global fintech and innovation for financial services, KPMG International.

Firms were more focused on cost cutting and on divesting non-core and underperforming assets than new deals. The increase in AI-focused fintech investment dovetails with that, Ruddenklau added.

M&A deal value and PE investments dropped in H1, with just $19.9b in M&A deal value and $1.4b in PE investment.

Fintech-focused VC investment showed “significant resilience,” according to KPMG, rising to $23.4b in H1 2025, from $23b in H1 2024.

The Americas attracted $26.7b of investment, whilst the EMEA region accounted for $13.7bm and the ASPAC region for $4.2b, according to KPMG.

The digital assets space attracted $8.4b as of the end of H1 2025, compared to the $10.7b seen during all of 2024.

Both investors and institutional users are very keen on the potential of generative AI and agentic AI—and startups that are to improve efficiencies and drive value through GenAI will command premium valuations and significant investment, said Ruddenklau.

“Fintech-focused AI is only going to get hotter headed into the back half of 2025,” he said.

AI-enabled fintechs also saw $7.2b in investment in H1 2025, compared to $8.9b in all of 2024.

Digital assets and currencies are well positioned to see investment grow even more in the second half of the year, said Karim Haji, global head of financial services, KPMG International.

“We’re seeing a major upswell in activity and investment in the digital asset space. Regulations are really starting to come into focus in several jurisdictions—giving both startups and investors more confidence,” said Haji.

Whether Circle’s highly successful IPO will drive other crypto firms to exit will also be a trend to watch out for in the space, Haji added.