Pulse of Fintech H1’2025

Cybersecurity-fintech pure-play dealmaking slows

Total global investment in cybersecurity was incredibly soft in H1’25, with just $120 million invested across 26 deals, compared to the $1 billion in investment across 89 deals seen in 2024. The vast majority of this investment occurred at the seed and early deal stages; a $50 million raise by Israel-based blockchain security firm Blockaid¹² was the largest transaction of H1’25, followed by a $20 million raise by Hong Kong-based decentralized identity blockchain solution Humanity Protocol¹³ and a $8 million seed raise by US-based SMB-focused cyber warranty firm Cork.

Global investment in digital assets and currencies surges in H1’25

Total investment in digital assets and currencies rose dramatically in H1’25 — with $8.4 billion in investment globally compared to the $10.7 billion seen during all of 2024 and the $9.4 billion seen during 2023. The Americas attracted the largest deals in the sector, including two $1 billion+ deals — a $2 billion VC raise by Grand Caymans-based Binance¹⁴ and the $1.5 billion acquisition of US-based futures trading platform Ninja Trader by crypto platform Kraken.¹⁵ In the ASPAC region, the largest deal in the space involved China-based Cango selling off its China-based legacy business to Ursalpha Digital Limited for $251.9 million in order to reposition itself as a BTC mining business,¹⁶ followed distantly by a $69.4 million raise by Japan-based Web3 and entertainment fan economy creator Gaudiy.¹⁷

Regtech investment tapers off after H1’24 megadeal

Regtech attracted $2.1 billion in investment globally in H1’25 — well off the pace required to match the $8.3 billion seen during 2024. Four of the largest deals during the quarter occurred in the EMEA region, including three in the UK — the $209.9 million take-private of UK-based customer engagement data security company Eckoh by Bridgepoint,¹⁸ a $175 million VC raise by compliance solutions firm Quantexa,¹⁹ and a $75 million VC raise by digital asset custody firm Komainu.²⁰ The largest regtech deal in the Americas was the $246.5 million acquisition of US-based cloud native buy and sell side solutions firm LiquidityBook by FactSet.²¹ Regtech deals in the ASPAC region were primarily very small during H1’25 — such as the $23 million raise by Singapore-based incorporation and accounting platform Sleek.²²

While total investment was down in H1’25, deal volume at mid-year stood at 190 — well ahead of the pace needed to exceed the deals total seen during all of 2023 (361) and 2024 (360). This highlights the significant activity occurring in the space — if primarily centered around earlier deal stages compared to more mature fintech subsectors.

AI driving increasing interest in wealthtech

While global investment in wealthtech remained quite soft compared to other fintech sectors during H1’25, there was a significant amount of ancillary interest in the space as corporates and investors alike looked at the potential for AI to transform various aspects of the asset management lifecycle — from making back-end processes more efficient and enhancing relationship management with clients to supporting wealth corroboration from a KYC perspective.

During H1’25, the largest deals in the wealthtech space included the $571.3 million acquisition of Japan-based asset management platform and robo advisory service WealthNavi by MUFG,²³ Julius Baer Group’s sale of its Brazil-based wealth management assets to BTG Pactual for $106.1 million,²⁴ and a $69.9 million raise by France-based cryptocurrency investment products firm Bitwise.²⁵