Pulse of Fintech

Australian fintech investment trends

In H’2 25, 34 deals were closed in Australia for a total value of $250 million. This represents a 17% decline in deal count and a 31% decline in deal value, compared to the previous half of the year. In H2’25, the bulk of total deal value was driven by three major transactions, each exceeding the $40 million mark.

Overall, 2025 was heavily front-loaded when it comes to fintech investments, with Q1’25 representing 45% of the year’s deal value ($272 million). H2’25 was instead characterized by higher uncertainty around the Australian economy, with inflation picking up and fears of new rate hikes looming.

In terms of notable deals, Caleb & Brown, a high‑net‑worth crypto brokerage, was acquired by Swyftx for $65 million, strengthening Swyftx’s position in the digital asset market. Indue, a payments solutions provider, was acquired by Cuscal for $49 million, with the merger aimed at combining Indue’s payment facilitation capabilities with Cuscal’s infrastructure. Finally, EzyCollect, an Australian SaaS provider, was acquired by Sidetrade for $44 million, expanding Sidetrade’s global footprint in AI‑powered order‑to‑cash solutions.

Pulse of Fintech H2’25: Australian insights summary

Insights into the Australian fintech landscape

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Top 6 ASPAC trends to watch in H2'25

Artificial Intelligence

AI continuing to be a key focus for investors across the ASPAC region – including LLMs, generative AI applications, and agentic AI – with increasing focus on real world solutions.
Data

Growing focus on turning data into variable and tradable assets, in combination with an increasing focus on privacy computing.
China-based fintechs

China-based fintechs embracing dual-market routes to grow overseas – replicating domestic payments and microcredit models in emerging markets, while focusing on more transformative solutions in mature markets.
Macroeconomic and geopolitical

Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties continuing to drive caution among fintech investors, including the protracted economic slowdown in China and increasing concern that inflationary pressures in Australia could lead to a rate increase.
Australian financial institutions

Financial institutions in Australia prioritising fintechs to help them drive efficiencies and cost reductions.
Growth of digital assets

Growth of digital asset capability, incubation and scaling programs across Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia.

Australia continues to trail other major economies in fintech investment, with both deal values and volumes declining again this year. This trend is unsurprising given elevated inflation, and subsequent interest rate increases by the central bank, which have further tightened an already challenging capital‑raising environment. Looking ahead, restoring macroeconomic stability and easing inflationary pressures will be critical to revitalising the local funding market.

Daniel Teper

Partner

Mergers & Acquisitions and Head of Fintech (Australia)

Global fintech investment update

2025 was a banner year for digital assets, with total global investment nearly doubling from $11.2 billion to $19.1 billion year-over-year.

While total investment fell shy of the record $32.2 billion seen in 2021, the current momentum is expected to continue into 2026 – driven by increasing regulatory certainty, including the passing of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act in the US and the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulations (MiCA) coming into full force in the EU at the end of 2024, and regulation expected in the UK by 2027.

The Americas attracted more than half of the fintech investment seen globally during H1’25 ($26.7 billion), led by the $2.6 billion acquisition of US-based Next Insurance.

The EMEA region came a distant second, attracting $13.7 billion in in fintech investment, led by the $3.2 billion buyout of UK-based Preqin, while the ASPAC region saw just $4.3 billion in investment, led by the acquisition of Japan-based WealthNavi for $571.3 million.

The digital assets and currencies space was the brightest star in fintech investment globally during H1’25, attracting $8.4 billion, compared to the $10.7 billion seen during all of 2024. AI-focused fintech came a close second, with $7.2 billion in investment, compared to $8.9 billion during all of 2024. The payments space meanwhile saw investment falter amid the lack of significant consolidation megadeals, with just $4.6 billion in investment, compared to 2024’s annual total of $30.8 billion.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all figures quoted in this report are based on data provided by PitchBook as of 31 December 2025. See page 65 for detailed methodology. All currency amounts are in US$ unless otherwise specified.