State of FinTech 2025: Observations From Inside the Work

I was fascinated by CB Insights’ State of FinTech 2025 report. When I read industry research, I look for misalignment, places where capital, talent, and real-world adoption aren’t yet lining up. I pay less attention to total dollars raised and more attention to where headcount is quietly growing, where valuation efficiency is emerging, and where platforms are embedding themselves into real workflows. Those signals tend to surface well before the broader narrative catches up.

This report was no different. The most compelling insights don’t live in the funding headlines. They sit deeper in the data, particularly in metrics like valuation per employee and headcount growth by category. Buried in the middle of the report, these indicators say far more about leverage and durability than topline investment totals ever could.

There are fewer deals, more discipline, and a clear return to infrastructure and operating systems rather than surface-level features.

That lens shapes everything that follows.

Payments continue to dominate FinTech headlines and deal volume. That isn’t wrong, but it’s no longer the most interesting part of the story. Payments are infrastructure. They’re essential, but they’re no longer where meaningful differentiation is being created.

What stood out was where valuation efficiency and organizational growth are appearing. Capital is rewarding companies that compress decision-making, embed directly into workflows, and reduce friction for regulated buyers. It’s no longer rewarding companies simply for moving money faster. That distinction matters, especially in wealth and asset management.

Now look at where talent and focus are concentrating. Growth is happening in advisor productivity and enablement platforms, AI driven investment intelligence, portfolio and private capital management systems, and institutional analytics and insights. These are not consumer trends. They are trust markets. Real innovation in wealth and asset management lives in the daily work, not at the edge of the stack. The direction is clear.

The WealthTech data tells a quieter, more disciplined story than the broader FinTech narrative. Funding volumes are down from their 2021 highs, and deal counts have declined. At the same time, early-stage activity remains strong, and capital is flowing toward infrastructure, operating systems, and platforms built for durability rather than short-term engagement. This isn’t a retreat. It’s a reset toward fundamentals. WealthTech isn’t stalling, it’s growing up. 

Financial wellness is also a growing category, which is encouraging. What’s largely absent, however, is meaningful measurement of behavioral outcomes, trust formation, and long-term changes in decision making. Wellness without behavior is messaging. Wellness with behavior is systems work. The next wave of innovation in this space will belong to companies that put people before tools and design for how financial decisions are made over time.

Looking ahead to 2026, FinTech isn’t about to get louder. It’s about to get more specific. We’ll see fewer horizontal tools and more platforms embedded directly into advisory, investment, and institutional workflows. Financial wellness will evolve from branding into measurable behavior. Trust, not speed, will become the true differentiator for the market. 

And I can’t wait to play a part in this story in 2026.