Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
KPMG H1 2026 Shows Canadian Fintech Capital Concentrating
August 25, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence And Data, Competition And Market Structure, Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing
Fewer Deals, Bigger Q2 Cheques And A Higher Bar For Funding
On August 25, 2026, KPMG reported KPMG H1 fintech data showing US$996.7 million across 47 Canadian fintech deals in the first half of 2026. Its current comparison puts that against about US$1.7 billion across 82 deals a year earlier, leaving both investment and deal activity down more than 40%.
Q2 was much stronger than Q1 without producing more deals. Investment climbed to US$621.7 million across 23 transactions from US$375 million across 24. Venture funding reached US$398.2 million across 19 deals from US$94.6 million across 14. Almost the same number of transactions attracted substantially more capital.
Canada's broader venture capital market tells a different story. Canada H1 venture data show C$2.69 billion invested across 250 deals, with dollars up 17% and deal count down 8.8%. Sixteen rounds of C$50 million or more absorbed 59% of all venture capital.
Look at the funding source of those larger cheques. Rounds financed entirely by Canadian investors represented 66% of H1 venture transactions, but foreign investors participated in 56% of later stage rounds, up from 30% a year earlier. U.S. investors participated in 44%, up from 19%.
Global capital is valuable to Canadian companies and should remain part of the funding mix. However, the opportunity is to build more domestic capacity to lead large rounds as companies scale, allowing Canada to retain more ownership, investment influence and financial upside while still attracting international investors.
KPMG and CVCA measure different markets. KPMG includes venture capital, private equity and M&A, while the CVCA figures above cover venture capital. Together, they show a funding market where larger commitments are going to a relatively small group of companies.
KPMG says investors are favouring scale, specialized AI capabilities, competitive positioning and demonstrable economics. For Canadian fintechs, the funding bar is getting clearer and harder to clear.
Nesto Shows What Investors Are Paying For
The largest Canadian fintech financing in KPMG's H1 data was Nesto's C$302M Series E in June at a C$1.47 billion valuation. The Montréal mortgage technology company entered the round with more than C$80 billion of mortgages under administration, more than C$37 billion of 2026 originations and a profitable business.
Nesto also owns lending technology and established mortgage businesses while building Nesto Cloud and Maestro AI for financial institutions. Investors were backing technology connected to customers, lending operations, distribution and a large existing financial market.
Regulated access can carry similar strategic value. Robinhood's WonderFi acquisition gave it Canadian customers, local teams and regulated crypto platforms through Bitbuy and Coinsquare instead of building that position from scratch.
AI attracted the most activity in KPMG's H1 data with 19 investments, compared with eight digital asset deals and four payments deals. KPMG says investors are favouring specialized applications that make lending, deposit taking and payment processing faster or more efficient.
That is already visible in Canadian financing. Float raised C$85 million to expand its AI business finance platform across payments, cash management and finance workflows. Nesto is applying AI to mortgage operations and lending technology. AI becomes easier to finance when it can lower costs, improve risk decisions, speed up work or increase revenue inside a financial product customers already use.
The early stage pipeline below those larger companies needs attention. CVCA says early stage investment dollars rose 24% on a flat deal count, while seed funding fell 31% to C$285 million. KPMG recorded 12 early stage fintech deals and eight seed rounds. Future Canadian scale companies depend on enough younger fintechs getting the capital and customers required to reach that level.
Delayed Financial Infrastructure Has A Competitiveness Cost
KPMG expects Consumer Driven Banking and the Real-Time Rail to improve fintech economics by opening access to financial data and payment infrastructure. Both are finally entering implementation after years of delay.
Canada's RTR access rules came into force on August 24. Payments Canada is targeting a Q4 2026 launch with initial direct participants, followed by additional onboarding and transaction growth through 2027. Registered payment service providers can pursue membership and RTR access, but firms still need the technology, settlement arrangements, fraud controls and operating capacity to participate.
Consumer Driven Banking is also getting closer to operation. Proposed regulations cover data access, accreditation, liability, security and technical standards. Implementation is expected to begin with accreditation after final regulations are published, while payment initiation and wider open finance capabilities come later.
These infrastructure reforms can reduce barriers that have favoured larger institutions, but firms still need the resources to integrate, comply and compete. Smaller challengers benefit when access becomes practical and affordable enough to improve their products and economics.
Canada's delay also affects how much experience fintechs build before competing internationally. In 2025, the Bank of Canada described payments modernization delays compared with the UK, Australia and EU. Fintechs in those markets have had more years to develop products around faster payments, financial data access and modern infrastructure.
Canadian firms are only now gaining some of the same tools. Infrastructure delays do not explain the success or failure of any individual company, but they can leave Canadian fintechs with less experience using capabilities that competitors elsewhere already know well. That can make winning customers and market share outside Canada harder.
Scale, licences, customer access and specialized technology are easier to finance once companies have had time to build them. If modern infrastructure helps Canadian fintechs prove their economics earlier, more firms could become credible candidates for larger rounds.
Canada's fintech funding concentration was already visible in 2025. H1 2026 makes the domestic question more pressing. Strong companies are still attracting large cheques, but fewer fintechs are reaching investors.
More selective investment can reward stronger companies, but Canada still needs enough firms coming behind today's winners. Better payment and data infrastructure can lower operating barriers. Applied AI can improve real financial workflows. Deeper domestic growth capital can help Canadian investors lead more large rounds.
The goal is not to make investors less selective. It is to produce more Canadian fintechs strong enough to earn their capital and compete globally.
Talking Point
Canadian fintech investors are backing scale, specialized AI, regulated access and proven economics, while international capital becomes more important in larger rounds. Can Real-Time Rail and Consumer Driven Banking help more Canadian fintechs build those advantages earlier while Canada develops more capacity to finance their growth at home?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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