According to Sifted, European fintech remains a powerhouse despite market turbulence, with €7.6 billion flowing into the sector last year across 670 equity deals. This year has seen nearly €6 billion raised already through 585 deals, proving the sector’s resilience. The publication identified 13 key operators worth watching, including Payrails CEO Orkhan Abdullayev who just secured $32 million for his enterprise payments platform. Other standouts include Gradient Labs cofounder Danai Antoniou raising $13 million for AI financial agents and Finster AI’s Siddhant Jayakumar landing $15 million for investment banking AI tools. The list spans payments infrastructure, AI-powered financial services, and scaling operations at established players like Revolut and Wise.
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But here’s the thing about all that money
Look, €7.6 billion sounds impressive until you realize it’s actually down significantly from the peak funding years. The sector might be “mature,” but that’s another way of saying growth is harder to come by. These operators are navigating a much tougher environment where investors actually want to see paths to profitability, not just user growth. And let’s be honest – how many of these AI-focused fintechs are actually solving real problems versus just riding the hype wave? I’ve seen this movie before: the “AI-powered financial operating system” pitch sounds great until you realize most small businesses just want their accounting to work reliably.
The operator playbook is changing
What’s fascinating about this list is where these people came from. You’ve got former Monzo engineers building AI agents, ex-Google DeepMind researchers targeting investment banks, and Microsoft veterans tackling billing for AI. Basically, the fintech operator playbook has evolved from “disrupt banking” to “apply specialized expertise to specific financial pain points.” But is that actually better? On one hand, you get more sophisticated solutions from people who understand the domain. On the other, you risk creating overly niche products that can’t scale. I mean, how big is the market for AI that transcribes financial advisor meetings versus, say, making cross-border payments cheaper for everyone?
Everyone’s going B2B now
Notice how many of these operators are building for businesses rather than consumers? Payrails for enterprises, Mondu for B2B payments, Pennylane for SMEs. That’s the real trend here – the low-hanging consumer fintech fruit has been picked. Revolut and Wise already dominate their spaces, so the new wave is targeting the messy, complicated world of business finance. And honestly, that’s probably smarter. Business customers pay more and stick around longer. But B2B sales cycles are brutal, and enterprise software is crowded. These operators might have the technical chops, but do they have the patience for years-long sales processes?
The AI question mark
So many of these companies are betting big on AI – financial agents, transcription tools, investment analysis. The funding is clearly following the AI trend. But here’s my concern: financial services is one of the most regulated industries on earth. How quickly can these AI tools actually get regulatory approval? And more importantly, will financial institutions trust black-box AI with their most sensitive operations? I’ve seen promising fintech AI startups before that got bogged down in compliance hell. The operators with regulatory experience – like the former Goldman Sachs exec or the compliance background folks – might actually have the edge here.
Where does this actually go?
The real test for these operators won’t be raising their next rounds – it’ll be proving they can build sustainable businesses in a sector that’s already produced its giants. We’re past the era where being a “fintech” was enough to get funded. Now you need real revenue, real customers, and a real competitive moat. The ones targeting specific B2B problems with deep domain expertise probably have the best shot. But let’s check back in two years and see how many are still standing versus how many got acquired or pivoted. That’s the fintech reality check coming.
