UK fintech companies raised $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in H1 2026, down 35% from H2 2025 and down 26% from H1 last year, according to new data from Tracxn Technologies. The report found the decline was driven almost entirely by late-stage funding, while seed and early-stage activity held up or grew –
Kirstie Pickering
UK fintech companies raised $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in H1 2026, down 35% from H2 2025 and down 26% from H1 last year, according to new data from Tracxn Technologies.
The report found the decline was driven almost entirely by late-stage funding, while seed and early-stage activity held up or grew – a pattern that points to caution at the scale-up stage rather than a broad retreat from the sector.
Late-stage funding fell 45% to $830m (£621m) in H1 2026, down from $1.5B (£1.1bn) in both H2 2025 and H1 2025 – the single biggest driver of the half’s decline.
Early-stage funding slipped 26% half-on-half to $562m (£420m) but still stood 27% above H1 2025’s $444m (£332m). Seed funding jumped 93% half-on-half to $145m (£108m), holding roughly flat against H1 2025.
The appetite for megarounds held steady through the slowdown, with six rounds of $100m (£74.8m) or more in H1 2026 and the five in each of the prior two halves, including Paymentology’s $175m (£131m) Series A.
Investor activity tracked the same stage-by-stage split. Fuel Ventures, Speedinvest and Spartan Group led seed-stage backing, and AlbionVC, SmartFin and Index Ventures topped the early-stage table, aligning with the segment’s half-on-half growth.
At the late stage, Sofina stood alone as the period’s most active investor.
London’s share of the UK’s fintech funding slipped slightly from 99% in H2 2025 to 94% in H1 2026, as Edinburgh (£9.9m), Belfast (£9m), Cambridge (£6m) and Manchester (£2.2m) each recorded funded fintech companies for the first time in recent halves.
Acquisitions in the sector also dropped to 42 in H1 of this year, down 25% from H2 2025 (56) and 30% from H1 2025 (60).
