YC Once Again Tops Ranks Of Most Active Fintech Investors In Q1 Even As Deal Count Drops

A bit more money, but far fewer deals. That was the overall trend for fintech startup funding in Q1, and it held when looking at the rankings of the most active investors in the space, with even frontrunner Y Combinator participating in fewer deals in the sector last quarter.

Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per Crunchbase data. In terms of dollars invested, that’s up 5% year over year, but that money went into almost a third fewer deals.

As has been the case in previous quarters, startup accelerator Y Combinator was the most active investor in the space in Q1 by far, participating in 27 deals involving fintech startups. However, it’s interesting to note that YC’s deal volume in Q1 marked a multiquarter low, down 38.6% from the 44 fintech deals it took part in during the first quarter of 2025.

The next most active investor in the first quarter was Coinbase Ventures, with 11 investments. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Alumni Ventures all tied for third place, with nine deals each.

YC also topped the list of the most active fintech investors in rounds of $5 million or above, participating in 14 such transactions. That’s up 16.7% from the 12 deals involving fintech startups in which it participated in the first quarter of 2025.

Lightspeed and Coinbase Ventures came in next on the list of most active investors in rounds of $5 million or more — each writing checks into nine fintech startup investments during the 2026 first quarter.

When it came to leading rounds of $5 million or more, six venture firms tied with five investments each: Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel and Peak XV Partners.

Top lead investors at $100M or more

For megarounds — those deals of $100 million or more — we saw more private equity enter the mix of lead or co-lead investors. Coatue, Sixth Street Growth, Blue Owl Capital Corp. and The Space Between topped the list, according to Crunchbase data.

The largest rounds were raised by a diverse bunch of fintech startups.

Predictions marketplace Kalshi was the fintech sector’s largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by Coatue. The New York-based startup had just raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation in December.
In February, Vestwell, a digital savings platform, raised $385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth. The New York-based startup said its new valuation was $2 billion, double the $1 billion valuation it achieved when raising its $125 million Series D round in December 2023.
In late January, insurtech Devoted Health announced it had closed $366 million in equity funding led by The Space Between.
And also in January, Rain, which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by Iconiq Capital. Its post-money valuation was $1.95 billion, up 17x from last March.

Top fintech investors at seed

When it comes to investing in seed rounds, unsurprisingly, Y Combinator again topped the list — by far, with 16 fintech deals. Next up was Coinbase Ventures with six investments at the seed stage, and then Soma Capital, with five.

The investor base shifted when we took a look at who led or co-led post-seed rounds in the first quarter. Sequoia Capital and Insight Partners topped that list, with five deals each. Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed and Accel came in next with four fintech investments each at the post-seed stage.