Mid- and late-stage fintech deals have reached a four-year high in 2025, accounting for 22% of all fintech transactions in the first three quarters of the year, underscoring a continued shift toward fewer, larger investments in more established fintech companies, according to a new report by CB Insights.

In contrast, early-stage deals have declined to 66% of total activity, down six points from 2024.

The growing share of mid- and late-stage deals is pushing average deal sizes higher. As of 2025 year-to-date (YTD), the average fintech deal size stood at US$17 million, up 37% YoY from US$12.4 million in 2024, marking a four-year high. At the same time, fintech deal counts continue to decline. In Q3 2025, fintech companies closed 795 deals, down from 967 transactions in Q3 2024. Despite fewer transactions, total funding volume increased to US$10.9 billion in Q3 2025, compared to US$8.5 billion in Q3 2024.

Wealthtech maintains strong performance

In Q3 2025, wealthtech continued to gain traction, raising US$1.6 billion. This amount brings the 2025 YTD total to US$4.2 billion, already surpassing 2024’s full-year total of US$3.3 billion. The vertical secured the biggest funding round of the quarter, with iCapital raising US$820 million in July at a US$7.5 billion valuation. Headquartered in New York, iCapital offers a range of non-traditional investment products for the private markets.

The company has US$945 billion of assets serviced globally on its platform, including US$257 billion in alternative platform assets, US$203 billion in structured investments and annuities outstanding, and US$485 billion in client assets reported on, and serves over 3,000 wealth management firms and 114,000 active financial professionals. Wealthtech companies are also expanding rapidly. According to CB Insights’ talent signals, three of the top five fastest-growing fintech markets in YoY hiring are in the wealthtech sector, underscoring strong confidence in digital-first wealth management solutions.

These markets are financial advisor productivity tools, wealth management banking and lending platforms, and AI investment intelligence platforms, which are experiencing a 51.6%, 27%, and 26.1% YoY headcount growth, respectively.

Digital assets remain a key focus

In Q3 2025, digital assets continued to attract significant investor interest. Crypto exchange platform Kraken secured the second-largest fintech equity rounds globally of Q3 2025, raising a US$500 million Series D in September at a US$15 billion valuation. Digital assets also led the fintech exit rebound, with many of Q3’s largest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offering (IPO) deals occurring in the crypto space, signaling rising institutional adoption. Notable crypto M&A transactions in Q3 2025 included:

• AlloyX, a stablecoin infrastructure provider acquired by financial services firm Solowin for US$350 million;
• Plus Wallet, acquired by Cold Wallet for US$270 million;
• Rail, a stablecoin-powered platform for global payments acquired by Ripple for US$200 million; and
• Caleb and Brown, a crypto brokerage and asset manager focused on high-net-worth private investors in the US acquired by Australian crypto exchange Swyftx.

Quarterly fintech M&A exits surged in Q3 2025, reaching a total of 249 transactions and marking a three-year high. IPOs for the quarter also hit a 16-quarter high, at 15. The most significant listings included Klarna (US$15.1 billion), Accelerant (US$6.4 billion), and Bullish (US$5.6 billion). Klarna is a digital bank and flexible payment provider with 111 active Klarna consumers and 790,000 merchants, Accelerant is a data-driven risk exchange connecting underwriters of specialty insurance risk with risk capital providers, and Bullish is a crypto exchange operator targeting institutional clients.

Global fintech funding has rebounded significantly this year, reaching a total of US$32.6 billion in the first three quarters of the year, and nearly matching the US$35.7 billion total recorded for all of 2024. Europe accounted for 16.3% of that amount, raising a total of US$5.3 billion in 2025 YTD.

The UK continued to dominate the landscape, securing some of 2025 YTD’s largest rounds among which agentic AI startup Xelix’s US$160 million Series B, distributed ledger technology payment network operator Fnality’s US$136 million Series C, and cloud mining platform PBK Miner’s US$80 million Series B.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by freepik via Freepik