Worldpay Deal Anchors Fintech’s Best Half in Years: KPMG

Global Payments' acquisition of London-based Worldpay in January marked a significant moment for the fintech industry. According to KPMG International's latest Pulse of Fintech report, this deal alone accounted for nearly a quarter of all global fintech investment in the five months that followed. This demonstrates a concentration of capital in fewer hands, despite the overall surge in fintech funding.

Fintech investment reached $103.1 billion across a six-month period, marking its strongest annual performance in four years, up from $72.2 billion in the second half of the previous year. However, the deal count dropped to a multi-year low, with only 2,100 transactions in the first half of the year compared to 2,501 in the prior period.

Investors favor mature fintechs with proven track records over higher-risk, early-stage startups. As a result, capital is flowing into late-stage blockbuster deals rather than early-stage ventures. During the reported period, ten deals worth $1 billion or more closed, including the $24.3 billion acquisition of Worldpay and the $13.5 billion sale of TSYS to Fidelity National Information Services.

The Americas dominated fintech investment, accounting for over 80% of the total $86.9 billion, with the U.S. alone receiving $80.8 billion across 933 deals. Europe, Middle East, and Africa saw $11.3 billion invested across 626 deals, reflecting a potential decade-low in both deal count and value. Asia-Pacific investment also declined to $4.6 billion across 350 deals.

Within sectors, payments led all categories with $44.2 billion invested, surpassing the total investment of all of 2025. AI-focused fintechs attracted $21.4 billion, while crypto/digital assets pulled in $11.1 billion across 467 deals. The dynamics of fintech mirror the broader global dealmaking landscape, with total dollars increasing but transaction activity remaining bottlenecked, driven by megadeals and concentration of capital at the top.