The Americas fintech market is humming along but has cooled quite a bit from last year according to the KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report released this week, which showed fintech funding in the first half of 2025 hit $26.7 billion with 1,092 deals…down about a quarter from 2H ‘24’s $35.7 billion. 

Per the report, a big driver of the slowdown is how much more selective investors are being amid macroeconomic misadventure. “M&A activity is currently quite opportunistic. In late 2024, many were preparing for a strong deal cycle in 2025,” said Jonathan Langlois, Principal ofAdvisory Financial Services Strategy for KPMG in the U.S. “As macroeconomic uncertainties unfolded, investors largely paused on execution — though preparation hasn’t stopped. The deals moving forward now are those where buyers see clear strategic value or a compelling advantage.” 

Beyond macroeconomic uncertainty, we’re also curious how much AI is eating into the fintech M&A market — as we’ve been reporting, Big Tech is scooping those companies off the shelves with gusto. 

Despite the current market, fintech founders continue to pound the pavement, with a view on the moment when those investors push “go.” Today, we dig into part two of our series on female fintech founders you should know. 

–The Editors