Private equity investment in fintech up 44% in 2025

Global private equity and venture capital investments in the fintech sector grew 43.7% year over year to $18.54 billion in 2025, even as deal volume declined.

The volume of deals fell 34.2% from 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The convergence of infrastructure and AI is supporting premium valuations for fintech, according to Amjad Ahmad, managing partner at venture capital firm 500 Global.

Some fintech infrastructure can handle the actual flow of funds and are intelligent, adding insight by providing AI analytics for areas such as payments orchestration, cross-border settlement, fraud prevention and identity verification.

"Investors are gravitating toward mission-critical infrastructure platforms that combine financial rails with data intelligence," Ahmad said.

Investment opportunities are shifting to business-to-business fintech companies, which focus on infrastructure, and away from business-to-consumer, where the interface is primary, added Han Ming Ho, lead of the Asia-Pacific Investment Funds practice at law firm Reed Smith LLP in Singapore. Regulatory and compliance tools embedded in fintech infrastructure, for example, tend to attract investors, Ho said.

The trend of AI adding value to fintech solutions is reflected in the median private equity deal size in the sector, which was up about 29% year over year to $9 million, according to Market Intelligence data.

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Top fintech transactions

Several of 2025's largest private equity-backed fintech deals involved targets that provide infrastructure, such as Binance Holdings Ltd., which offers a platform that enables banks to build and launch cryptocurrency services.

The largest deal in the sector was Clearlake Capital Group LP's $7.49 billion acquisition of data and analytics infrastructure company Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc.

The US and Canada were the leading locations for fintech deals in 2025, with 130 transactions totaling about $14.1 billion.

500 Global's Ahmad said North America will continue to be the anchor market for fintech investment, given its "comparatively clearer exit pathways," among others.

"The region continues to set valuation benchmarks, particularly in payments infrastructure, AI-enabled finance automation and digital asset platforms," Ahmad said.

Latin America and the Caribbean ranked second, with a total transaction value of $2.12 billion. The Middle East came in third with $1.25 billion.

The fintech sector in the Middle East, particularly within the Gulf Cooperation Council, is well positioned for more investment, driven by regulatory modernization.

"In the Gulf, coordinated government initiatives, open banking frameworks and strong banking partnerships are accelerating fintech integration into the formal financial system," Ahmad said.