FinTech North Annual Review 2025 and plans for the Year Ahead
Reflecting on the Year and Looking Ahead to 2026
2025 was a year of steady growth and consolidation for FinTech North, marked by consistency and a clear sense of purpose across the Northern FinTech ecosystem. Our work connecting people, ideas, and opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the trust and active support of our partners and wider community – for which we are truly grateful.
Across the global FinTech sector, the dominant theme was a shift from ‘growth at all costs’ toward more sustainable and measured development. Despite economic headwinds, the sector showed resilience and continued to deliver meaningful innovation and long-term value, with partnerships, collaboration, and connectivity remaining central.
FinTech in the North adapted to rapidly advancing technologies like AI, a complex regulatory environment, and shifting macroeconomic conditions. Scaleups continued to drive innovation, productivity, and regional economic impact, as highlighted by analysis from Innovate Finance and Whitecap Consulting.
In this article, we will review the key milestones, challenges, and achievements of 2025, and look ahead to our priorities and plans for 2026, as we continue to connect, support, and drive the North’s FinTech ecosystem forward.
The FinTech Landscape in 2025
The wider FinTech environment in 2025 was characterised by a period of stabilisation following several years of market volatility. Innovate Finance’s 2025 investment data indicates that global FinTech investment reached approximately $53 billion across 5,918 deals for the full year, up 21% on 2024. The second half of the year saw a particularly strong performance, with funding rising to $32.5 billion – a 61% increase compared to the first half – signalling renewed confidence and a stabilising investment landscape.
The UK maintained its position as Europe’s leading FinTech market, securing $3.6 billion across 542 deals in 2025, with investment in H2 up 11% on H1. Despite intensifying global competition, the UK ecosystem continued to demonstrate resilience, depth of talent, and sustained investor interest. These trends provided important context for FinTech activity across the North of England, reinforcing the region’s role as a key contributor to national performance and a hub of innovation in a rapidly evolving sector.
Insights from the Whitecap North of England FinTech Report
The 2025 North of England FinTech Report, published by Whitecap Consulting, offered a positive and forward-looking assessment of the region’s FinTech sector. The report highlighted an ecosystem of close to 400 FinTech firms employing nearly 20,000 people directly, with an estimated annual economic contribution of approximately £5 billion. When accounting for wider FinTech-related roles, the broader workforce linked to FinTech activity in the North is estimated at around 70,000 people.
Whitecap’s analysis emphasised the North’s strengths across established subsectors including payments, banking, lending, and wealthtech, alongside growing opportunities linked to innovation, collaboration, and skills development. The report also set out strategic priorities for future growth, including access to investment, talent pipelines, cross-regional collaboration, and targeted innovation initiatives. Collectively, these findings reinforced the importance of coordinated action across industry, academia, investors, and the public sector to unlock the sector’s full potential.
A Year of Evolution for FinTech North
Throughout 2025, FinTech North continued to grow and adapt to sector demand and emerging opportunities. Our conferences adopted a stronger thematic focus, with refreshed formats and new venues chosen to showcase the North as a FinTech hub while celebrating culturally and regionally significant spaces. Engagement across the network surpassed 9,000 people, reflecting the scale and diversity of activity across the North.
The return of the Northern Summit was a key highlight, building on the inaugural event and following the Whitecap North of England FinTech Report. Core themes of market, people, money and technology & product brought together startups, scaling businesses, policymakers, and ecosystem leaders. Contributions from the Bank of England and Innovate Finance added national context and insight, underscoring the growing maturity of the northern FinTech landscape.
Grant-funded initiatives supported by Leeds City Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund included the Pitch & Present Masterclass, helping founders and mid-level professionals refine public speaking and pitching skills, and the ongoing OWLworks programme, an inclusive business support network designed to help underrepresented and aspiring entrepreneurs in FinTech and its adjacent sectors through skills development and mentorship.
Our Skills Trailblazer Group expanded in membership and engagement, addressing talent gaps and contributing to the development of a FinTech apprenticeship with Skills England. Partnerships with universities, including Leeds Beckett, Leeds Trinity, Bradford, and Manchester, as well as with Luminate Education Group, continued to support our mission of bridging the FinTech skills gap. Notably, a skills bootcamp pilot was delivered in collaboration with Leeds Beckett, forming part of a longer-term strategy to strengthen regional talent pipelines.
International engagement remained strong, with a return to Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, a northern delegation, and our Director attending DigiPay 2025 in Sofia. These activities promoted the North on a global stage, connected regional FinTechs with international stakeholders, and supported inward investment.
Engagement with regulatory and public-sector stakeholders included participation from the FCA, the Payment Systems Regulator, the Bank of England, and regional mayors at flagship events, alongside roundtables and direct collaboration that reinforced constructive dialogue between industry, regulators, and policymakers.
Events and Community Activity
Throughout 2025, FinTech North delivered an ambitious programme of 25 events.
The year began with a strong focus on regulation, resilience, and community engagement. Highlights from Q1 included webinars on Decoding DORA and Bank IT Outages, community mixers in Manchester and Leeds, a webinar on the future of financial inclusion, the Liverpool Conference at the Royal Liver Building, the Leeds Pitch & Present Forum, and a North East FinTech social in Gateshead – FinTech North’s first event in the town.
In Q2, we hosted the North West WealthTech Forum, an R&D Tax Changes Leaders Lunch, the Leeds Conference alongside Pitch360 North, and an East Yorkshire FinTech Mixer, strengthening connections with the Hull FinTech ecosystem.
Q3 featured the Newcastle Conference at Wylam Brewery, the York FinTech Forum, the Whitecap Northern FinTech Report launch, the Scaling Smart: Unlocking Growth for the North webinar, and a Leeds FinTech Social as part of Leeds Digital Festival.
The year concluded in Q4 with the Northern FinTech Summit, the Manchester Conference, and the Data Sovereignty Paradox webinar.
As part of our refreshed event format, we trialled hosting evening socials on the night of conferences rather than the evening before, opening them to all delegates. This change enhanced networking opportunities, was well received, and will be expanded into 2026.
Statistics
This year, we were delighted to see 70% attendance across our events, reflecting the energy and engagement of our community. Senior representation remains strong, with 33% of speakers holding C-suite, founder, or MD-equivalent roles. We also welcomed 89 debut speakers and 50 speakers from outside the region, bringing fresh perspectives and helping us grow a truly inclusive, connected FinTech community. Our events achieved an average rating of 8.9, up from last year, and our Net Promoter Score rose to 65, showing that attendees value the opportunities to learn, connect, and share experiences.
Feedback from our events highlighted that networking and the quality of connections were the most valued aspects, alongside the relevance of content and the insights offered through panel discussions, which brought together holistic views of key sector topics.
Diversity & Inclusion
We continue to make steady progress on diversity and inclusion. This year, 52% of our speakers were male and 48% female, with 15% identifying as diverse. These figures reflect our ongoing commitment to broadening participation, and we are actively working to improve them year on year. Collaborations with organisations such as Project Nemo support our inclusion efforts, while initiatives like our Pitch and Present Masterclass and OWLworks help to create inclusive pathways for people from all backgrounds to strengthen their professional skills and opportunities.
In 2026, we will continue to partner with organisations that broaden our reach and champion inclusion and accessibility across the sector.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Building on the momentum of 2025, FinTech North will continue to support sustainable growth across the northern FinTech ecosystem by deepening collaboration across regions, championing skills and talent development, and supporting founders and businesses at every stage.
To achieve this, we aim to expand grant-funded activity, continue address the FinTech skills gap through collaboration with academia and industry, refresh event formats to meet the evolving needs of our community, and connect participants to relevant international opportunities, both inbound and outbound, as international activity remains a key strategic pillar. We will also continue to support developing regions within the northern ecosystem, fostering connectivity and showcasing the collective strength of the North’s FinTech community.
With a strong foundation in place, 2026 presents an opportunity to translate ambition into action and build on the progress of the past year.
Thank You!
FinTech North’s work in 2025 would not have been possible without the ongoing support of our partners, sponsors, speakers, and wider community. Thank you for your continued commitment and collaboration. We look forward to building on this progress together in 2026.
We value input from across the ecosystem, and our community feedback survey will be launching soon. Once it’s live, click here to share your thoughts and let us know what you’d like to see more of in 2026.
For more information on FinTech North’s activity, partnerships, and opportunities for collaboration, please contact us at info@fintechnorth.uk.
