Key US RegTech investment stats in Q1 2026:
- US RegTech deal activity grew by 36% YoY in Q1 2026
- Californian firms secured a third of all US RegTech deals in the quarter to dominate the market
- Bretton AI, formerly known as Greenlite AI, a developer of AI agents designed to handle financial crime workflows across regulated financial institutions, raised $75m in a Series B round, marking it one of the biggest US RegTech deals of the quarter
US RegTech deal activity grew by 36% YoY in Q1 2026
US RegTech investment reached $2bn in Q1 2026, across 103 deals, a 28% rise in funding and a 36% increase in deal volume compared with Q1 2025, when 76 transactions raised $1.6bn.
Against the preceding quarter, Q4 2025, the picture was more mixed: deal volume held broadly steady, dipping just 2% from 105 deals, while funding slipped 10% from $2.2bn.
Taken together, the data points to a sector that has grown considerably on a year-over-year basis while showing early signs of stabilisation at a higher level of activity following the strong Q4 2025 performance.
Californian firms secured a third of all US RegTech deals in the quarter to dominate the market
California retained its position as the most active RegTech market in the US in Q1 2026, recording 35 deals and a 34% share of total activity, up from 33 deals in Q1 2025, though its share of overall transactions fell from 43%, reflecting the broader distribution of deal flow across the country.
New York was the standout mover, climbing from 13 deals and a 17% share in Q1 2025 to 27 deals and a 26% share in Q1 2026, a near doubling of volume that significantly narrowed the gap with California.
Texas held third position in both periods with six deals in Q1 2025 and seven in Q1 2026, its share edging down slightly from 8% to 7% as overall activity expanded.
Delaware entered the ranking in Q1 2026 with seven deals and a 7% share, matching Texas on volume and joining it in third place.
The most consequential shift across the period is New York’s sharp rise, which points to a growing concentration of RegTech activity in the two dominant coastal markets even as deal flow broadened across additional states.
Bretton AI, formerly known as Greenlite AI, a developer of AI agents designed to handle financial crime workflows across regulated financial institutions, raised $75m in a Series B round, marking it one of the biggest US RegTech deals of the quarter
The round was led by Sapphire Ventures, with continued backing from Greylock, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Canvas Ventures and Y Combinator, and TIAA Ventures joining as a new investor.
The company’s platform supports KYC and KYB reviews, AML and sanctions investigations and ongoing transaction monitoring, and is already in use at banks regulated by the OCC, FDIC and Federal Reserve, as well as at Robinhood, Mercury and Gusto, among others.
Central to its offering is a proprietary Trust Infrastructure that embeds regulatory guidance and model risk management into every agent, ensuring tools are audit-ready and explainable.
Since its Series A in May 2025, the combined market capitalisation of its client base has grown from $150bn to more than $1tn, average contract values have risen from $85,000 to $201,000, and its agents have completed more than 1.2 million investigations while saving clients more than $10m in compliance-related costs.
Proceeds will fund expansion into additional financial crime domains and accelerate adoption among larger institutions.
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