When the cost of capital changes, the entire grammar of dealmaking has to change with it. Between 2023 and 2026, that grammar was rewritten twice — first by the most aggressive rate-hike cycle in four decades, which compressed fintech valuations by more than half, then by artificial intelligence, which silently rebuilt the criteria investors use to decide what is worth funding and what is worth acquiring at all. The numbers tell the story before any narrative does. Global fin