Fintech investment regained momentum in the first half of 2026, with the United States accounting for the bulk of international deal activity. KPMG’s latest Pulse of Fintech report shows global funding reaching $103.1 billion across 2,100 transactions, up from $72.2 billion in the second half of 2025 and putting the sector on course for its strongest annual total in four years.
According to the latest research report, the US reportedly captured most of that capital, attracting $86.9 billion across 1,120 deals.
Within the region, US companies drew $80.8 billion through 933 transactions—more than three-quarters of worldwide fintech investment and 92 percent of the Americas total.
Eight of the ten billion-dollar-plus deals occurred in the United States.
Headline transactions included Global Payments’ $24.3 billion purchase of Worldpay and FIS’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Total System Services (Issuer Solutions).
Other large US deals included the $8.4 billion buyout of Clearwater Analytics and the $6.4 billion take-private of OneStream.
Deal volume declined even as dollar value rose.
Investors concentrated capital on fewer, larger transactions involving mature companies with proven models rather than early-stage experiments.
Mergers and acquisitions represented the largest share of activity at $67.9 billion across 394 deals, including $20.2 billion in cross-border combinations as firms sought scale and complementary capabilities.
Payments led sector investment with $44.2 billion—more than double the $20.2 billion recorded for all of 2025. The Worldpay acquisition accounted for most of the increase.
The period reflected a consolidation phase in which capital favored scaled infrastructure and established operators over speculative startups.
Payments deal count fell to 168 from 577 in the prior full year.Artificial intelligence emerged as a central investment thesis rather than a secondary theme.
AI-related fintech deals totaled $21.4 billion across 800 transactions in the first half of 2026, nearly matching the $23.6 billion recorded for the entirety of 2025.
In the Americas, particularly the US and Canada, investors directed funds toward applications that improve operational efficiency and create measurable value, including fraud prevention, payment automation, and agentic commerce—systems in which AI agents initiate and complete transactions with limited human involvement.
Corporate venture capital also increased, reaching $16.3 billion globally and tracking toward a four-year high even as overall deal counts remained subdued.
Venture capital itself totaled $31.5 billion across 1,641 deals. Digital assets attracted $11.1 billion, remaining a solid category though well below 2025’s peak.
The pattern points to a market that is maturing.
Capital is flowing to companies that can demonstrate durability, profitability, and the ability to integrate AI into core financial workflows.
Payments infrastructure and AI-enabled services are the clearest beneficiaries of that shift. While deal volume stays selective, the concentration of large transactions in the United States has placed American fintech at the center of global activity and set a higher bar for scale and execution heading into the second half of the year.