FT Partners Quarterly FinTech Insights and Annual Almanac

Q1 2026 FinTech Insights

Report Features:

Q1 2026 and historical FinTech financing, IPO and M&A volume and deal count statistics
Largest FinTech financings and M&A transactions in Q1 2026
Most active FinTech investors including strategic investor participation
Breakdowns by geography and deal type
FinTech sector and sub-sector highlights

Key Highlights:

While FinTech financing volume in Q1 ($15.3 billion) tracked in line with 2025's elevated pace, supported by 33 $100 million+ capital raises, deal count fell sharply year-over-year, with Q1 2026 marking the fourth consecutive quarterly decline.
Five FinTech companies went public in the US: PayPay (Japan), PicPay (Brazil), Agibank (Brazil), Ethos (US), and BitGo (US), and raised a combined $2.0 billion in gross proceeds, notably with three of the five companies headquartered internationally.
11 new FinTech unicorns were minted, matching the level in Q4 2025 as the highest quarterly count since Q2 2022, alongside several notable valuation increases including OKX announcing its first publicly known valuation of $25 billion, Kalshi doubling to $22 billion, Plaid increasing to $8 billion, and Alan reaching $5.8 billion among others.
$1 billion+ M&A deals fell to six announced, down from 14 in Q1 2025 and down from the peak of 22 in Q3 2025, while mid-market deals ($100 million – $500 million) climbed to 34% of total volume.