Fintech and AI in 2026: How New Rounds are Changing...
Fintech and artificial intelligence continue to lead the global venture capital market, but the structure of deals is changing: fewer rounds, more focus on infrastructure and regulatory-sensitive solutions. In Europe, fintech investments fell to $3.7 billion across 192 deals in the first quarter of 2026, down from $5.4 billion a year ago. Against this backdrop, the recent large rounds of Paymentology and Elliptic stand out, as well as deals in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Slovenia. For Kazakhstan and Central Asia, this is a signal that the window of opportunity is shifting towards infrastructure B2B services and regtech, where companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz) can become technology partners.