Early-stage fintechs worldwide attracted significant investment in the first six months of 2025, raising $655.5 million across 128 seed and pre-seed deals. We analysed the top 16 fintech seed and pre-seed deals in our Seed Watch database to determine which market opportunities are attracting investors’ support around the world. Together, these 16 startups raised approximately $272 million, representing 41.5% of all early-stage fintech funding in the first half of the year. Based on our review, five dominant opportunities emerged. These trends reflect rising demand for smarter infrastructure, inclusive systems, AI-driven services, and ethical financial alternatives.

A recurring theme across several startups is the urgent need to upgrade outdated financial infrastructure. Traditional systems, such as those supporting global payments, treasury operations, and foreign exchange, are often slow, manual, and ill-suited for today’s real-time digital economy. This fragmentation creates enormous friction and capital inefficiencies.

Velocity targets enterprise treasury and cross-border payments, offering programmable and compliant infrastructure to support multi-asset, global operations. Similarly, OpenFX addresses the inefficiencies in the $200 trillion global FX market by providing API-first infrastructure. Noah brings speed and liquidity to global remittances using stablecoins, while Catena Labs is positioning itself as the financial backbone of the emerging agentic economy, supporting autonomous AI agents with regulated rails.

Another major trend is the rise of embedded finance. Embedded finance involves integrating financial services directly into non-financial platforms and workflows. Rather than creating standalone apps, fintech startups are delivering financial functionality where users already operate, creating seamless and contextual user experiences.

CredibleX enables embedded SME lending in the UAE through modular, API-based tools that plug into daily business platforms. Quinn brings AI-powered financial planning into banks, credit unions, and publisher platforms, allowing real-time advice delivery at scale. Tensec modernises B2B trade by embedding financial instruments into SMB commerce flows. Town provides enterprise-grade tax services to small businesses by combining human expertise with AI in an accessible interface. Meanwhile, Polar helps indie developers monetise their products globally with a billing system built specifically for integration.

As complexity grows and talent shortages mount, especially in areas like tax and compliance, AI is being adopted to streamline financial operations traditionally dependent on human labour. This trend reflects an industry-wide push for cost efficiency, scale, and faster service delivery.

Filed addresses the capacity bottlenecks faced by tax firms amid a looming CPA shortage, boosting productivity through automation. Sympera AI focuses on providing personalised business banking for SMBs—an underserved segment often ignored by traditional banks. Helios automates global payroll operations for distributed teams using AI, addressing compliance risk and operational overhead. Town and Quinn also exemplify how AI is used to extend enterprise-grade financial services to smaller clients without sacrificing quality.

Financial exclusion remains a significant barrier in many global regions, especially in MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa. Several startups are targeting this gap by building infrastructure and services tailored to the unique constraints and opportunities in these markets.

Stitch provides modern, flexible fintech infrastructure in MENA, where digital payments have surged and banks are eager for transformation. ClearGrid offers a tech-first, customer-sensitive approach to debt collection in the MENA consumer lending market—an industry traditionally criticised for harsh practices. CredibleX tackles the financing gap for SMEs in the UAE, where 90% of firms still lack formal credit access despite contributing over 60% to non-oil GDP, according to the government. With over $129B in remittances to India (World Bank, 2024) and an affluent Indian diaspora in the U.S., Abound targets an underserved segment seeking financial efficiency.

As awareness of climate change grows and trust in traditional banks declines, consumers are looking for financial services that reflect their ethical and environmental values. This has created space for fintechs that embed ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles into their core offering.

GreenFi is one such startup, providing sustainable financial services tailored to individuals who prioritise environmental and social impact in their financial decisions. As the demand for transparency and impact-driven investing rises, more consumers are aligning their money with their values.

This trend is still emerging, but it holds massive potential, particularly as regulators, investors, and consumers increasingly favour sustainable finance options. Startups that can combine ESG alignment with solid financial performance are likely to attract a new generation of customers.

The five trends outlined above provide insight into how the future of fintech is being created by early-stage startups. For founders and investors alike, the most promising ventures will be those that build scalable, compliant, user-centred solutions with a global mindset, especially in regions and sectors where the status quo is no longer viable.

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