2026 Report: Key challenges and opportunities for 2026

‍_{This blog is taken from a section of our Finance Leaders in Tech Report 2026. To read the report in full, click here.}

Key challenges

65% of the CFOs surveyed stated growth as their primary challenge for 2026. Across all revenue brackets, it was consistently ranked as the top concern for CFOs, regardless of company size.

Among the smallest firms (under £1M), competitor challenges hold equal weight with growth, highlighting the pressures of establishing market position early on in a company's lifecycle. Funding concerns were largely confined to sub-£50M organisations, and in those cases, were only chosen as the primary challenge by circa 8% of the respondents. This suggests that this group of CFOs are either well-funded currently or, as our questions on funding revealed, feel confident in their ability to raise this year.Valuation correction challenges appear intermittently across mid-sized brackets, but remain eclipsed by growth concerns, reflecting a transitional stage of financial maturity.

This concern was also reflected in the insights gathered on the topic of moving roles in 2026, where increasing returns from an exit event was ranked third in our list of reasons why a CFO might be looking for a new role this year. The threat of AI, talent retention, and customer retention remain relatively minor issues overall, mentioned by only a small proportion of respondents, indicating that while these factors are emerging on the radar, they are not yet primary concerns for CFOs in the year ahead.In fact, AI is broadly seen as a pressing opportunity rather than a threat, which we explore in the AI section of this report here.

Growth challenges by sector

As part of our survey, we asked each CFO to elaborate on their most pressing challenge for 2026 to gather anecdotal insights across each sector. Based on their input, we have summarised the key themes per sector below.‍

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E-commerce (Direct-to-Consumer / B2C)

Profitability appears to be replacing pure growth as the new north star for e-commerce CFOs in thiscohort. There is a clear focus on optimisation, with many referencing margin protection and operational discipline as a key challenge. The sector’s leaders are focused on improving unit economics, controlling customer acquisition costs, and navigating demand volatility.

Core themes:

• Cost optimisation and efficiency 
• Pricing and demand management 
• Balancing scale with profitability 

Marketplace

Marketplace CFOs in this cohort repeatedly referenced the macro headwinds and the impact this is having or could have on scaling sustainably and profitability, suggesting a need to balance expansion and control. Many highlight customer retention and the need to keep supply and demand aligned across geographies, signalling a focus on unit economics and customer experience.

Core themes:

• AI-driven efficiency 
• Supply-demand balance 
• Profitability through operational discipline 

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)

SaaS CFOs are focused on sales and marketing efficiency, reflecting a pivot from hyper-growth to measured, data-led performance to drive meaningful ARR impact. AI was a core theme, highlighting a strong appetite for automation, AI experimentation, and embedding analytics into both finance teams and overall product offering.

Core themes:

• Efficiency and operating discipline 
• Scalable processes and AI integration 

Transactional / Payments

CFOs in payments are battling fierce competition and regulatory complexity while preparing for the next growth phase.Many cited AI integration, scaling infrastructure, and maintaining FX stability. There is a clear recognition that compliance, technology, and commercial readiness must mature in parallel.

Core themes:

• Scaling finance and compliance infrastructure 
• Maintaining competitiveness and relevance 
• AI and data-driven process automation 

Key opportunities

New markets, AI-powered growth and efficiency and new products were almost jointly ranked as the top opportunities in 2026, collectively chosen by just over 75% of our CFO cohort.

This signifies that whilst growth overall is the key concern for the year ahead, our respondents have expansion strategies in place alongside efficiency gains within their existing operations.

When segmented by sector, e-commerce CFOs are more focused on new markets than any other sector (60%), with secondary emphasis on product development (20%). Marketplace CFOs are slightly more bullish on AI across all sectors (36%). Notably, they are also putting emphasis on improving financial foundations when compared to all other sectors (14%).SaaS CFOs are balancing AI (32%) with product innovation (30%), which directly corresponds to our earlier suggestion that SaaS CFOs are exploring how AI can both bolster internal capabilities and improve their products.

CFOs in the transactions space emphasise product innovation (41%) more than any other group. The focus likely reflects competitive pressures and the need to differentiate with new features. Overall, improved financial foundations (4%), increased funding (3%) and key strategic hires (6%) were not deemed the key strategic opportunities for 2026. This CFO cohort is laser focused on growth and expansion, and are planning to leverage new AI technology to achieve their overall goals.

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‍_{This blog is taken from a section of our Finance Leaders in Tech Report 2026. To read the report in full, click here.}

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