By Alpesh Patel
2025 has become a remarkable time for fintech development. Just like the AI boom, the technology has matured and disrupted the whole financial system, causing more than 20% surge that outpaced banks’ development. As 2026 unfolds, Europe’s fintech scene is facing an even more fruitful time, and trends that have started in 2025 will see their development also in this new year.
Paytech becomes a real money magnet
As an independent segment within fintech, paytech is attracting increasing attention. It covers solutions for the fast and secure movement of electronic funds, from API integrations to electronic wallets. Understanding that easy payments can provide a real competitive advantage, paytech companies build strategies around seamless integrations, minimising transaction friction for both B2B and B2C.
In Europe alone, paytech has definitely stolen the spotlight and become the most funded segment in 2025. Only in the third quarter of the year, paytech companies raised €896 million in venture capital, more than twice as much as in the second quarter (€413 million). This breakthrough, fueled, for example, by Klarna’s IPO on the NYSE, made paytech the leader in investment, overtaking even insurtech and digital currencies.
Instant payment race is on
Instant payments are also gaining traction in Europe as part of the paytech sector. Previously, receiving a payment from a friend or tenant required lengthy checks and several business days of waiting. However, from January 9, 2025, EU banks are required to accept instant payments, which has forced the sector to invest billions in infrastructure upgrades, including systems such as ECB TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement), where transaction volume has already exceeded 1 billion euros in 2025.
This way, the region, once considered a latecomer, is becoming one of the leaders for instant payment development. Now, in the majority of the European banks, there is an opportunity to transfer funds within 10 seconds, available 24/7 with rare delays. So far, instant payments still represent less than 20% of transfers, but the forecasts are explosive: in 2026, the share will grow to 50%, with savings for businesses of €20-50 billion annually.
A shift to full-stack payment platforms
At the same time, Europe understands that separate apps and payment systems are becoming a thing of the past. Businesses appreciate platforms where they can find anything they need, from trading to transfers. And the market listens, knowing that everyone is getting tired of fragmentation.
Take, for example, the Mollie & GoCardless deal. Mollie, a major European payments provider, has acquired GoCardless, a specialist in bank-to-bank payments, for more than €1 billion. With the ultimate goal of creating a unified platform for payment methods for over 350,000 businesses, they are clearly part of this trend. And this deal definitely will not be the last.
Merchants increasingly prefer full-service platforms that combine payments, fraud, and financing, rather than add-ons when they have to switch between.
The rise of the EU payment sovereignty
It is interesting that, despite these achievements in Europe, the use of digital technologies still bangs its head against a long-standing wall — the lack of local solutions. Currently, nearly two-thirds of euro area card-based transactions are processed by non-European companies. These firms are mainly American, and, as we see, in times of political tension, such dependency could become a risk.
Realising that this is a problem, the ECB is proposing a digital euro as a solid alternative. As the bank states, the digital euro would make payments more convenient, providing an online payment method that complements cash and extends its benefits to digital infrastructure. It would also be available offline, allowing payment even without a network connection. As a result, the digital euro would give European consumers a safe and straightforward payment option that doesn’t rely on foreign companies and networks that can abandon a region in the blink of an eye.
From consumer fintech to B2B solutions
And last but not least is the flow of capital from consumer applications to B2B solutions and infrastructure. In 2025, investors were actively flocking to companies building infrastructure: PSP providers, processing platforms and scalable payment systems, while consumer fintech was experiencing a recession or a redistribution of funds. The total investment volume reached €6.3 billion in nine months, but with a focus on B2B solutions.
This leads to the flourishing of firms that solve fundamental technical and business goals, as in the mega-deals of Global Payments with Worldpay for $24.25 billion or Mollie with GoCardless. Capital is flowing into infrastructure, and B2B platforms are consolidating, leaving consumer apps in the shadows while preparing for an IPO wave in 2026.
Final words
Looking to 2026, European fintech will reach a new level, gently flowing from today’s. That’s what we’ve seen this year, and it’s going to be developed in future. Full-featured platforms will capture up to 60% of B2B transactions, reducing cross-border costs and unlocking billions in embedded finance. Investors’ money will pour into sovereign projects around the digital euro pilot, and a new wave of IPOs will thrive. Europe will finally take its future of payments into its own hands, and it will be natural, without fuss — a golden era that gains momentum.
About the Author
Alpesh Patel is a Strategic Partnership Director at Cartex, a new-gen fintech marketplace. He is a senior executive with over 25 years of experience in fintech, cryptocurrency, card issuing, and payments sectors in the U.K. and globally.
