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Firms in the Republic raised €136m in first six months of 2026, says KPMG
Globally, deal volumes tumbled 'below historic norms' in the first half of the year, KPMG said, although the value of deals is way up since 2025.
Image: Getty Images/iStockphotoIrish and European financial technology companies have found it more difficult to raise money this year as political and economic instability continues to dent investor risk appetites, according to a new The Big Four accounting firm’s latest fintech pulse report reveals that Irish companies raised $158.13 million across seven deals in the first six months of the year. That’s a more than 9 per cent decline compared to the same period last year.
KPMG said this year’s figure was “buoyed” by the $110 million that Dublin-based tax automation company Fonoa raised early in the summer. Odds tighten on CEO Rothwell’s bid for Irish Ferries owner-based Circuit’s $22 million fundraise, which closed in February; $11.83 million raised through acquisition by blockchain company True and $10 million raised by “Ireland’s fintech sector remains strong in 2026, despite a decrease in investment compared to the same period last year,” said Ian Nelson, head of financial services and regulatory at KPMG Ireland.
“There is still an appetite with investors for Irish fintechs that offer innovative solutions to real business challenges and demonstrate a clear path to scale. ” However, investor sentiment across the EU continues to be “weighed down”, KPMG said, by heightened geopolitical tensions, inflation arising from the US-Israeli war with Iran, and uncertainty around the trajectory of interest rates.
Against this backdrop, fintech investment in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region fell by around 37 per cent to $11.3 billion across 626 deals in the first half, compared to $18 billion invested across 753 deals in the same period last year. Globally, deal volumes tumbled “below historic norms” in the first half of the year, KPMG said, although the value of deals is way up since 2025.
Often achieving lofty valuations, artificial intelligence-related companies have been at the top of the menu for investors this year, with a smaller number of mega-deals helping to inflate global deal values. In total, AI helped fuel a 35 per cent increase in global merger and acquisition deal values last year.
The New York Times reported that in the first half of the year, the global value of deals increased by a further 45 per cent compared to the same period in 2025 to $3.2 trillion. Willow Plant Sensor review: Are your thumbs less green and more grim reaper?
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