Key US WealthTech investment stats in H1 2026:
- US WealthTech funding dropped 13% YoY in H1
- Deal activity projected to decline 15% for 2026 as investors grew cautious
- Vestwell, a WealthTech platform modernising how Americans save across retirement, education and emergency savings, raised $385m in a Series E round, making it one of the biggest US WealthTech deals of the first half of the year
US WealthTech funding dropped 13% YoY in H1
US WealthTech companies raised $1.5bn across 173 deals in H1 2026.
Deal activity rose 57% compared to the 110 transactions recorded in H1 2025, though funding fell 13% from the $1.7bn raised over the same period.
Measured against 2025, which saw $3.6bn raised across 259 deals, H1 2026 has accounted for 42% of that annual funding total at the halfway point of the year.
The average deal value in H1 2026 stood at $8.7m, 45% below the $15.7m recorded in H1 2025 and 36% below the $13.7m average seen across 2025.
The sharp drop in deal size, set against a significant rise in transaction volumes, points to a broadening of the investor base rather than a retreat, with capital being deployed across a wider range of businesses at smaller ticket sizes.
Deal activity projected to decline 15% for 2026 as investors grew cautious
Should the current pace continue across the second half of 2026, the sector would be on course to raise $3bn across around 346 deals for the year.
That would represent a 15% decline in funding but a 34% increase in deal activity compared to 2025.
The divergence between those two figures is significant.
It suggests that momentum within US WealthTech is being driven by volume rather than value, with a greater number of smaller investments replacing the larger, more concentrated bets that characterised earlier periods.
Whether that reflects a structural shift in how investors are approaching the sector, or simply a transitional phase before deal sizes recover, remains to be seen.
Vestwell, a WealthTech platform modernising how Americans save across retirement, education and emergency savings, raised $385m in a Series E round, making it one of the biggest US WealthTech deals of the first half of the year
The round was led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth, with participation from Neuberger Berman, SLW, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, TIAA Ventures and HarbourVest, with JPMorgan acting as placement and structuring agent.
The financing doubles Vestwell’s valuation since its 2023 Series D and brings total capital raised to $660m, with the company having surpassed $200m in annual recurring revenue.
Vestwell currently supports more than two million active savers and administers over $50bn in assets across employers, financial institutions, advisors, payroll providers and government agencies.
Its platform spans a broad range of savings pathways, from workplace retirement and emergency savings to college savings, student debt solutions and ABLE accounts for people with disabilities, delivered through a single infrastructure layer.
The company is expanding access to professionally managed, personalised investment solutions that go beyond age-based defaults, incorporating a wider set of factors tied to long-term retirement income goals and historically available only to larger institutional plans.
Proceeds will fund further distribution across payroll and benefits platforms, continued investment in AI-native capabilities and the expansion of savings pathways beyond retirement.
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