Key Global FinTech investment stats in Q1 2025:
- Funding dropped by 38% in Q1 2025 YoY
- Global FinTech funding projected to drop by 4% in 2025
- Deals over $100m dropped by 34% in in the first quarter due to investors’ reduced risk appetite
- Highnote, a leading global FinTech specialising in modern card issuance and embedded finance infrastructure
Funding dropped by 38% in Q1 2025 YoY
In Q1 2025, the Global FinTech market saw a steep decline in both deal activity and overall funding compared to the same period in 2024.
A total of 845 deals were recorded, down 54% from the 1,838 deals completed in Q1 2024.
Funding also dropped significantly to $21.6bn, a 38% decline from the $34.9bn raised in Q1 2024.
This marks a clear contraction in market sentiment, as investors appear to be exercising greater caution amid ongoing economic uncertainty, regulatory shifts, and valuation corrections across the FinTech landscape.
Global FinTech funding projected to drop by 4% in 2025
If this Q1 trend were to persist throughout the year, 2025 would close with 3,380 deals and $86.4bn in total funding.
That would represent a 23% drop in deal volume from the 4,401 transactions recorded in 2024, while total funding would fall just 4% from the $89.7bn raised last year.
The average deal size in Q1 2025 climbed to $25.6m, up from $19m in Q1 2024, signalling a shift in investor focus towards more mature or capital-efficient FinTech firms.
The data suggests that although fewer deals are getting done, those that are being funded tend to be higher-value opportunities with stronger fundamentals or market traction.
Deals over $100m dropped by 34% in in the first quarter due to investors’ reduced risk appetite
Deals under $100m totalled $9bn in Q1 2025, marking a 43% decline from $15.8bn in Q1 2024.
Meanwhile, large deals of $100m or more brought in $12.6bn in the first quarter of 2025 — a 34% drop from $19.1bn a year earlier.
For context, in 2024 as a whole, deals under $100m accounted for $40.3bn, while larger transactions contributed $49.3bn.
Despite the overall contraction, the relatively smaller drop in large deal funding points to a consolidation of capital towards well-established players or high-growth verticals like embedded finance, AI-driven financial infrastructure, or digital banking platforms.
Unless deal flow rebounds in the under-$100m bracket in the coming quarters, early-stage FinTechs may face a particularly challenging funding environment throughout 2025.
Highnote, a leading global FinTech specialising in modern card issuance and embedded finance infrastructure, closed one of the biggest global FinTech deals of the quarter with a $90m Series B funding
Th round was led by Adams Street Partners, alongside existing investors including Oak HC/FT and WestCap.
The funding coincides with the launch of Highnote’s new acquiring solution, marking a significant expansion of its embedded finance platform.
By offering both pay-in and pay-out functionality through a unified general ledger, Highnote enables enterprise clients, vertical SaaS providers, and B2B platforms to consolidate all financial transaction activities into a single, API-based platform.
With direct integrations to major card networks and certification from all major US brands, Highnote’s acquiring infrastructure delivers enhanced transparency, operational efficiency, and cost savings.
Built by veterans behind Braintree, this unified platform positions Highnote as a differentiated player in embedded payments, capable of supporting a broad spectrum of innovative and scalable use cases across industries.
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