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Public story · 2026-08-24 · high
KPMG counted £1.8B for UK fintech in H1 2026, while OpenAI and Anthropic alone pulled in $217 billion.
Why now: KPMG's H1 2026 numbers, reported by Finextra, are the clearest count yet of where venture money went this year.
UK fintech startups raised £1.8 billion in the first half of 2026, the lowest six-month total in a decade, according to KPMG figures reported by Finextra. In the same window, AI companies captured more than 70% of global venture funding. OpenAI and Anthropic alone took $217 billion, or 43% of every reported venture dollar worldwide.
The money that used to chase payments, lending, and banking infrastructure startups didn't vanish. It moved to two companies.
A venture fund only has so much committed for a given cycle. When 43 cents of every dollar goes to OpenAI and Anthropic, the rest gets split across everything else. Fintech is competing in that remainder against every other category an LP still wants exposure to.
If you're building fintech now, "large addressable market" won't carry a pitch on its own. That argument works when capital spreads itself around. It doesn't work when a fund has already committed its AI allocation and has less left for everything else. The founders who raise will be the ones with revenue to show, or a moat a generalist LLM can't undercut next year.
KPMG's next report will show whether fintech AI plays, not fintech overall, absorb what's left of the category's shrinking share.
Each link below shares sources, entities, or timing with this story.
Anthropic invested in Public First Action / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic invested in Public First Action); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic, funding).
Anthropic partners with OpenAI / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic partners with OpenAI); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic, capital).
Anthropic released Fable / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic released Fable); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic, capturing, dollar).
Anthropic partners with OpenAI / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic partners with OpenAI); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic).
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic partners with OpenAI); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic).
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic partners with OpenAI); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic).
Anthropic released Claude Code / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Anthropic released Claude Code); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic).
Sam Altman supports Anthropic / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Sam Altman supports Anthropic); both cover Anthropic, OpenAI; overlapping topics (against, anthropic).