The first half of 2026 saw UK fintech firms raise $1.5bn (£11bn), a 35% decrease from H2 2025 and 26% down year-on-year, according to Tracxn Technologies data.

The data showed that early-stage and seed funding was able to hold their own, while the contraction was largely to do with late-stage funding.

Late-stage funding decreased 45%, tp £621m in H1 2026 compared to £1.1bn in H2 20266 and H1 2025. This points to potential hesitancy at the scale-up stage.

On the other hand, early-stage funding also slipped, though not as significantly, with a 26% fall from last half, though H1 2026’s £420m represents a 27% rise on H1 2025.

Seed funding, which held about the same year-on-year, saw a 95% jump compared to H2 2025.

In terms of megarounds, these remained steady, with six rounds of $100m or more, just outdoing the five each in H1 and H2 2025.

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H1 2026 saw London’s dominance fall slightly to 94% half-on-half, as Edinburgh claimed £9.9m in fintech funding, followed by Belfast (£9m), Cambridge (£6m) and Manchester (£2.2m).

This half also saw acquisitions fall 25% from H2 2025, to just 42.