May 7, 2026

Hit the jackpot

Hi there,

Here is this week’s Hot or Not.

Hot: the AI 100

CB Insights just launched its 10th annual AI 100, a ranking of the most promising early-stage AI companies based on market traction, investor quality, and talent signals.

Some highlights of this year’s cohort include:

• Physical AI debuts as a standalone category for the first time, with 11 companies spanning robotics software, autonomous hardware, and chips.
• A growing cohort is building the identity, security, and governance layer that autonomous agents need to operate in enterprise.
• Healthcare and financial services tied as the largest industry application subcategories, at 9 companies each.

See all 100 winners in our interactive market map.

Not: Fintech deal count

In Q1’26, fintech saw just 762 deals, a multi-year low and the seventh quarterly decline in the last eight quarters.

But funding dollars have held steady after a Q4'25 spike, pointing to a market that's concentrating behind fewer, later-stage bets. Crypto companies, for instance, are commanding record valuations per employee.

Explore the full trend in our State of Fintech Q1’26 report.

Hot: Challenger banks

Of the top 10 banking deals this quarter, 8 went to companies competing directly with banks for deposits and customer relationships.

The three largest challenger raises:

• Uala raised $195M at a $3.2B valuation targeting consumer banking across Latin America.
• Allica Bank raised $150M at $1.2B focused on UK business banking.
• Anchorage Digital raised $100M at a $4.2B valuation building federally chartered crypto banking infrastructure.

Learn more in our recent report.

Not: M&A in fintech

Fintech M&A fell to 199 deals in Q1’26, down 26% from Q4’25, a six-quarter low.

But incumbents are acquiring into categories where upstarts have already built momentum:

• Capital One completed its $5.15B acquisition of Brex, expanding into spend management, a market that saw 4x funding growth from 2024 to 2025.
• Fireblocks acquired Tres Finance in crypto accounting and tax reporting, up 3x over the same period.
• Mastercard announced a $1.8B deal for BVNK (pending regulatory approval) in crypto payment processing, up 3.5x.

See the full breakdown in our State of Fintech Q1’26 report.

The +1

Source: u/rcap107 via Reddit

Chart on tilt. Don’t do line graphs for data like this. Ever. 

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. Did you miss our briefing on this year’s AI 100 list? Get the recording here.

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