And as was the case in the Q4 as well, Q1 was well above the prior five quarters by funding amounts, signaling that European venture funding may be gaining momentum.

Table of contents

• AI above 50%
• UK and France grew YoY
• Europe by stage
• In summary
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Still, Europe saw more capital going into fewer companies in Q1, with deal volume plummeting 40% year over year. Much of the decline was at seed stage (down 44%) and early stage (down 30%), while late-stage deal volume was in-line with the previous four quarters.

AI above 50%

Funding to Europe-based AI startups increased significantly last quarter, reaching $9.2 billion, or more than half of total venture funding to the region. That marks the sector鈥檚 highest proportion in a quarter on record.

The largest four rounds to startups based in Europe in Q1 were for AI-related companies. Data center builder , autonomous driving developer , and frontier lab for physical AI raised more than a billion each, and AI legaltech 鈥檚 funding totaled more than $500 million.

UK and France grew YoY

Startups from the U.K. and France raised more funding in Q1, totaling $7.4 billion and听 $2.9 billion, respectively. Germany-based startups raised $1.9 billion, flat year over year.

France has emerged as the European leader for AI frontier labs. Last quarter, it saw Paris-based , founded by former AI chief , raise $1 billion in the continent鈥檚 largest seed funding round on record. The deal also marked only the second billion-dollar-plus funding deal for a European frontier lab, following s $2 billion round last year.

Europe by stage

In Q1, late-stage funding to Europe-based startups nearly doubled from a year ago. The largest rounds were across a variety of sectors, including AI hardware, fintech, agentic AI, productivity software, sensors, defense, e-commerce and energy.

A total of $9.2 billion was invested at late-stage across 83 deals, up 91% by amounts year over year.

Early-stage funding to the region鈥檚 startups fell from a year earlier 鈥� by around 20% 鈥� 附近上门 data shows. Early-stage investment totaled $5.3 billion in Q1 across more than 240 funding rounds. Within early-stage funding, larger Series A rounds predominated in semiconductors, energy and healthcare.

Seed funding reached $3.1 billion in Q1 across more than 790 deals. The funding total was up 50% year over year, but largely due to the $1 billion round for Advanced Machine Intelligence.

In summary

Larger rounds into critical sectors in AI drove European startup funding up in Q1. A mix of Europe- and U.S.-based investors led the largest fundings last quarter into AI infrastructure, frontier labs, autonomous systems and applications.

Overall, Europe is in-line with global trends as capital concentrates into the largest deals in sectors that are surging due to AI.

Related 附近上门 query:

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of April 2, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Overall, investors put $27.4 billion to work across seed- through growth-stage financings for Asian companies in Q1, per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 up about 20% from the prior quarter and nearly double year-ago levels.

Total funding also hit its highest level in more than three years, as charted below.

Funding went to bigger rounds, not more of them. Per 附近上门 data, deal counts were flat with the prior quarter and up incrementally from prior year levels. In general, deal counts haven鈥檛 fluctuated widely from quarter to quarter over the past few years, as seen in the chart below.

Table of contents

• Most gains go to China
• Funding rose across stages, with most going to later stage
• Early stage was strong too
• Seed also showed an upswing
• A record quarter for AI
• Looking up
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Most gains go to China

An estimated $16.5 billion 鈥� or 60% of all Asian startup funding 鈥� went to China-based startups in Q1. It was also the third consecutive quarter for increased Chinese venture funding, which hit a multiyear low in the first half of 2025.

AI funding drove the gains in China. The quarter鈥檚 largest rounds all went to AI-focused companies, including foundational model startup , agentic AI company , and AI-enabled robot developer .

After China, the next-largest venture funding recipient in Asia was India, with $3.8 billion in reported Q1 investment, the highest number in the past four quarters. A big chunk of the funding went to the quarter鈥檚 largest equity round, a $600 million financing for AI systems developer .

Below, we chart out venture funding by country to seven leading investment hubs in Asia, showing how regional funding has trended since 2023.

Funding rose across stages, with most going to later stage

Later-stage, early-stage and seed funding all rose sequentially in the first quarter.

Of these, later-stage and technology-growth deals captured the highest share of funding, estimated at $11.7 billion in Q1. The quarter鈥檚 largest late-stage round by a long shot was a $2 billion Series C for Singapore-based data center company .

Overall, it was the largest later-stage tally in five quarters, as charted below.

Early stage was strong too

Early-stage investment also rose in Q1, hitting its highest point in two years.

Per 附近上门 data, an estimated $11.2 billion went to Asian companies around Series A and Series B stages. That鈥檚 nearly double year-ago levels and up about 17% from the prior quarter, as charted below.

Seed also showed an upswing

Investors also poured more money into seed-stage companies, with AI as a core driver.

Around $3.6 billion went to reported seed and angel rounds in Q1, up 85% year over year and 45% quarter over quarter. Reported deal counts dipped a bit, indicating concentration of capital among a smaller subset of hot startups. However, we expect this number to rise over time, as seed deals are often added to the dataset weeks after they close.

A record quarter for AI

It would be remiss to close out a quarterly report these days without some mention of how much investment went to artificial intelligence.

For Q1, Asian startups in AI-related categories pulled in about $11.2 billion, per 附近上门 data, the highest sum we鈥檝e tracked to date.

Looking up

Overall, the quarterly numbers show increasing momentum in China鈥檚 startup ecosystem, fueling much of the rising funding totals in Asia. Investment to startups in India, Singapore and South Korea also rose sequentially in Q1, while funding to Israel declined some.

In sum, it was a solid quarter, peppered with signs of optimism about the regional startup pipeline going forward.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per 附近上门 . That鈥檚 a 5% increase in dollars raised compared to the $11.4 billion raised across 1,097 鈥� or 31.5% fewer 鈥斕齞eals during the same time period in 2025.

This trend signals larger deal sizes. Indeed, late-stage or growth funding in the first quarter of 2026 totaled $6.9 billion, up 8% compared to $6.4 billion raised at those stages in the 2025 first quarter.

However, sequentially, the $12 billion raised is down 33% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, when fintech startups raised $17.8 billion globally. The $6.9 billion raised in late-stage or growth funding is also down markedly 鈥� by 43% 鈥� compared to the $12.1 billion raised by fintech startups in Q4 2025.

The trend in the first quarter also mirrors what we saw in 2025 as a whole, with global venture funding to fintech startups climbing to its highest level in several quarters, boosted by later-stage deals.

Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $53.8 billion in 2025, per 附近上门 . That鈥檚 an approximately 29.3% increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $41.6 billion raised.

US booms

U.S.-based startups have historically raised more fintech funding than any other country in the world, and the first quarter of 2026 was no different.

Of the $12 billion raised by startups globally, just over half 鈥� or $6.3 billion 鈥� flowed to fintech companies based in the U.S. That was an impressive 47% increase compared to the $4.3 billion raised by U.S. fintech startups in the 2025 first quarter. However, it was down 50% from the $12.6 billion that U.S. financial technology startups raised in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The United Kingdom was the second-largest recipient of venture capital, with startups in the region raising a total of $1.2 billion. India came in third, raising $900 million.

Big deals for unicorns

Several fintech startups raised nine-figure rounds in the first quarter, with some doubling their valuations since their last venture financings.

Predictions marketplace was the largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by . The New York-based startup had just raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation in December.

In February, , a digital savings platform, raised $385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by and . The New York-based startup said its new valuation was $2 billion, double it achieved when raising its $125 million Series D round in December 2023.

And in January, , which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by . Its post-money valuation was $1.95 billion, up 17x from last March.

Investors remain bullish

, partner and head of U.S. at , said his firm has been investing at a slightly slower pace so far in 2026 than in years past. But he cited it as 鈥渕ore a quirk of deal flow鈥� and where it gets conviction, rather than a decision to slow the firm鈥檚 investing pace.

鈥淚t’s certainly true that macroeconomics and geopolitics play a role,鈥� he told 附近上门 News, 鈥渂ut mostly we’re just focused on finding high-conviction companies to back.鈥�

QED is extremely bullish on the application layer for AI in fintech and stablecoin opportunities, and has backed several startups that Gerety said 鈥渉arness the power of LLMs with the security and reliability guarantees that finance needs.鈥� (, which raised a $45 million Series B in January and is building an AI assistant for financial advisers, is one of those companies.)

鈥淛ust in the last few months, agents are now actually able to be effective in many processing tasks, but the stakes in finance are too high for LLMs to conquer financial workflows alone,鈥� Gerety said. 鈥淔inance runs on trust, not probability.鈥�

Looking ahead, he said QED remains bullish on fintech overall for the year. Part of the excitement is around the fact that larger companies are 鈥渢ransforming鈥� their operations with agentic workflows, Gerety noted.

鈥淢ore and more transformation is moving from the 鈥榗o-pilot鈥� phase, and we鈥檙e moving into the ‘OpenClaw’ phase, when reasoning agents will start to actually do all the work that was too tedious and slow to be done manually,鈥� he added.

The geopolitical situation will likely hinder some companies from taking the IPO plunge, in Gerety鈥檚 view, although a few companies in QED鈥檚 portfolios are 鈥渂ubbling.鈥�

, partner at , said his firm is on track to make eight to 10 core investments in Seed or Series A companies this year 鈥� about the same number as in previous years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e investing in AI-enabled applications while maintaining patience and focus in our deployment of capital,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e look for durable, enduring businesses that we believe will withstand the current hype cycle and investment frenzy.鈥�

While TTV is investing in AI-enabled companies, Kapur said it also agrees with that 鈥渁n AI reset is coming.鈥�

鈥淢any investors have already made their money by getting in on the ground floor, and others are trying to replicate their success,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. 鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on investing in the application layer of AI, and we鈥檙e still in the early days with more widespread prosperity and a democratization of enterprise value creation yet to come.鈥�

In particular, TTV sees the biggest opportunity in early-stage AI-native companies that are solving problems in mission-critical workflows 鈥渨hile building durable moats.鈥�

鈥淭hese platforms will earn the right to be distribution endpoints for financial products 鈥� and are even more valuable in the age of AI,鈥� he said.

He believes we may see some fintech IPOs in 2026, but that they will largely depend on how the potential mega IPOs (from the likes of , and ) perform.

鈥淚f those IPOs underperform, others may opt to stay private longer,鈥� Kapur said.

Looking ahead, he predicts we鈥檒l continue to see accelerated adoption of AI in financial services, first through straightforward applications, then more operationally complex use cases.

鈥淢ore broadly, we鈥檙e watching how the foundational LLMs further move up into the application layer, which is imperative to the long-term sustainability of their business models,鈥� Kapur said. 鈥淲e think financial services and fintech are unique enough categories where de novo startups and standalone businesses will beat platforms building experimental applications.鈥�

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Fintech Funding Jumped 27% In 2025 With Fewer Deals But Bigger Checks
• Kalshi Secures $1B To Expand Predictions Market Platform
• Digital Savings Startup Vestwell Lands $385M, Doubles Valuation
• Stablecoin Startup Rain Raises $250M Series C at $1.95B Valuation 鈥� Its Third Round In Less Than A Year
• Exclusive: Zocks Raises $45M Series B From Lightspeed, QED For AI Assistant To Financial Advisers

Illustration:

In total, investors poured $67.5 billion into reported seed- through growth-stage rounds for companies across Asia in last year, per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 a decline of about 6% from 2024, and the lowest annual total in five years.

The lackluster numbers resulted mostly from weak investment in the first half of the year. Momentum picked up in the latter half, boosted in particular by rising investment in Chinese startups.

Funding gains culminated in Q4, with $21.7 billion in reported investments. That鈥檚 a rise of 19% quarter over quarter, and 22% year over year. The increase was most pronounced for late-stage dealmaking.

For broader perspective, below we look at dealmaking across stages and country-by-country, as well as focus on AI-focused investment.

Table of contents

• Late stage
• Early stage
• Seed stage
• AI investment
• Country-by-country funding tallies
• The big picture: Restrained, but looking up
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Late stage

Later-stage startups received the largest share of funding, so that鈥檚 where we鈥檒l start.

An estimated $10.4 billion went to Asia-based companies at Series C and beyond in Q4, per 附近上门 data, the highest quarterly total of the year. For the full year, meanwhile, later-stage and technology growth investment totaled $30.8 billion.

For Q4, a few jumbo rounds for China-based startups played a big role in boosting the totals. These included a reported $874 million Series C for EV brand , a $600 million Series D for autonomous delivery vehicle provider , and a $500 million Series C for agentic AI company .

Early stage

Early-stage investors also ended the year on a positive note, with $8.9 billion in reported Q4 deals, the highest quarterly total of the year. For the full year, funding at Series A and Series B stages totaled $28.2 billion, down about 10% year over year.

A few large individual rounds lifted the tallies. This included , a startup focused on intelligent driving technology, and , an Israeli startup focused on artificial general intelligence, which each picked up $200 million financings.

Seed stage

Seed-stage investment moved higher in Q4, with $2.1 billion in reported deals, the highest total in the past four quarters. We expect the tally to rise a bit more over time, as well, as more deals are added later to the dataset.

For the full year, meanwhile, reported seed funding to startups in Asia was estimated at $8.2 billion. That鈥檚 down about 6% from 2024.

AI investment

Artificial intelligence investment also scaled to record heights in 2025, peaking in the fourth quarter.

For the full year, investment to startups in 附近上门 AI-related categories totaled $16.7 billion. Of that, just over 38% was in Q4.

Country-by-country funding tallies

While China鈥檚 startup funding remains far below historical highs, the country remains the leading destination for Asia鈥檚 venture investment. Next is India, followed by Israel, Japan and Singapore.

For Q4, we saw China widen its lead some, bolstered by large deals around electric vehicles, autonomous driving and AI infrastructure.

The big picture: Restrained, but looking up

Overall, funding tallies paint an image of an investment environment that鈥檚 constrained, but with some bullish undertones. One particularly positive indicator is that investment picked up in Q4, indicating momentum is upward, not downward.

Still, funding remains well below peak levels. So there鈥檚 a lot of catching up to do.

Correction: A previous version of the Asia Venture Dollar Volume By Annum chart contained incorrect data. It has been updated.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Jan. 4, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Related reading:

• Venture Funding In Asia Shatters Record For Year And Quarter鈥擳hanks In Large Part To China
• China Leads Asia Startup Funding Slide In First Half Of 2025听
• Asia Startup Investment Up In Q3

Illustration:

That鈥檚 because this past year, the list almost exclusively featured longstanding, familiar names. These are firms that routinely topped prior rankings, and for the most part they only got busier in 2025.

This is certainly true for our most active post-seed investors last year 鈥� , , , and . Each of them participated in more than 100 reported rounds last year and backed more deals than in 2024.

Overall, there were at least 15 investors who participated in 50 or more post-seed rounds of over $3 million, per 附近上门 data, plus another three in the high 40s. We rank them below.

Q4 most-active venture and lead venture investors

We also analyzed active investor rankings for the fourth quarter of 2025, which produced results that aren鈥檛 dramatically different by some measures.

The most similar was the ranking of post-seed investors, which featured the same five names in the top slots as the full-year list.

The same familiar names showed up in our Q4 ranking of most-active lead or co-lead investors, albeit in reshuffled spots. The standout exception was Y Combinator, which typically takes a non-lead role in follow-on rounds for companies that partook in its accelerator program.

Spendiest Q4 investors

The top names start to look quite a bit different when we focus more on round size.

For the ranking below, we look at investors who led or co-led rounds totaling $1 billion or more in Q4. This isn鈥檛 an exact proxy for who spent the most, since rounds with multiple investors don鈥檛 break out each backer鈥檚 share. However, it does give a general sense of who put serious sums of capital to work.

, 听补苍诲 came out on top, as they were co-lead investors in 鈥� $4 billion December financing.听

Busiest seed investors

Among seed investors, meanwhile, Y Combinator hung on to its customary No. 1 position in Q4. After that came and .听

Below, we rank the 13 most active seed investors by reported deal counts.

Big picture: Well-known VCs led

Overall, looking at most active investor rankings for 2025 and for Q4, a few characteristics stand out.

One is that the rankings are largely dominated by U.S.-based investors. This is particularly pronounced at post-seed, with a bit more geographic diversity at seed stage.听

Also, it should be noted that there is broad variance in the geographic investment preferences of U.S.-headquartered firms. Some, like Andreessen Horowitz, mostly invest domestically, while others, like Accel, are more dispersed across multiple continents.

The other obvious thing to note is that big-name investors appear to be maintaining their lead roles in the startup funding ecosystem. They鈥檙e certainly not fading away. To the contrary, the most active appear to be scaling up further.

Related reading:

• North American Startup Funding Soared 46% In 2025, Driven By AI Boom
• Global Venture Funding In 2025 Surged As Startup Deals And Valuations Set All-Time Records听
• 附近上门 Predicts: Why Top VCs Expect More Venture Dollars, Bigger Rounds And Fewer Winners In 2026听
• These Were The Largest Funding Rounds Of 2025听

Illustration:

Investors poured $280 billion into seed through growth-stage rounds for U.S. and Canadian companies in 2025, per 附近上门 data. It was the highest annual total in four years, with funding up a whopping 46% from 2024.

The fourth quarter also delivered a strong finish to 2025 with $67 billion in reported investment, the second-highest quarterly tally for the year. 1 Early-stage dealmaking was particularly robust, hitting the highest level in the past four quarters.

While funding rose, deal counts declined a bit in 2025 and in Q4, as more capital was concentrated in larger rounds. Overall, deal count declined about 16% year-over-year, with just under 10,500 reported rounds.2 Deal count also declined about 14% sequentially in Q4.

Of course, AI was the dominant technology trend for the year, capturing a record sum. Beyond new rounds, investors also logged some gains, as IPOs, M&A and multibillion-dollar deals conceived as acquihires all contributed to ROI.

Below, we look at these trends along with a more granular look at Q4 funding.

Table of contents

• Artificial intelligence
• Late stage
• Early stage
• Seed
• Exits
• Indicators don鈥檛 point to a slowdown
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Artificial intelligence

We鈥檒l start with AI, as that鈥檚 where most of the money went.

Around $168 billion 鈥� or roughly 60% of all North American startup funding 鈥� went to companies in AI-related categories, per 附近上门. Investment held up in Q4, with around $36 billion, or more than half of total funding, going to AI.

The tally included multiple billion-dollar-plus rounds. For Q4, the largest AI deals were a $2.3 billion Series D for and its Cursor coding automation platform, and a $2 billion Series B for software development AI startup .听

For the full year, meanwhile, the largest AI rounds were 鈥檚 $40 billion -led financing in March and 鈥檚 $13 billion Series F in September.

Late stage

Startup funding was also strong across most stages in both Q4 and all of 2025. This held true for late-stage and technology-growth dealmaking, which drew $191 billion for the full year 鈥斕� up 75% from 2024.听

For Q4, meanwhile, investors put about $41 billion into late- and growth-stage deals, down a smidge from the prior quarter.

For Q4, the largest late-stage deals included a $1.5 billion Series E for , a provider of supercomputers for AI inference, and a $1.4 billion Series E for AI data center developer .

Early stage

Investors were also pretty generous about writing checks to early-stage companies last year.听

Overall, close to $69 billion went to Series A- and Series B-stage companies in 2025, up about 5% year over year. Funding hit a high point in Q4, with $21.6 billion going to early-stage deals.

For Q4, some of the largest deals included a $700 million Series B for identity security provider and a $600 million Series B for AI robotics startup .

Seed

Seed-stage investors were also not slouches in 2025, putting around $20.4 billion into reported rounds for the most nascent startups. However, that鈥檚 a bit of a decline from 2024, which saw about 9% more in known investment.

Deal counts also ticked lower last year, hitting a nadir in Q4, with just over 1,300 reported seed financings. (As always, we expect that total to rise a bit over time as more deals get entered into the dataset.)

The idea of a seed round being synonymous with small, of course, is now an outdated concept. This was evident in Q4, which had multiple jumbo-sized seed deals, including a $475 million financing for , which is focused on energy-efficient AI computing.

Exits

Both 2025 and Q4 were also reasonably active periods for sizable exits of both the IPO and M&A varieties.

IPO: For IPOs, Q4 closed out the year with a few big debuts including electric aircraft maker and corporate travel and expense platform . For the full year, the largest IPOs were AI infrastructure provider and design software platform .

M&A: It was also a happening year for big M&A deals. The largest of these was 鈥檚 planned purchase of for $32 billion, announced in March.

Many of the standout deals came in the fourth quarter. Biggest among these was 鈥檚 December deal to acquire assets of AI inference chip developer in a transaction reportedly at $20 billion.

In addition, announced plans in December to merge with fusion company in a transaction said to be valued at $6 billion. And purchased , a provider of data observability tools, for $3.35 billion.听

Indicators don鈥檛 point to a slowdown

There鈥檚 little in the 2025 and Q4 data that points to a slowdown ahead. In particular, the year closed on an up note for big rounds, especially early-stage, as well as good-sized exits.

Yes, there鈥檚 plenty of talk about an AI bubble. But for now, investors seem quite comfortable backing follow-on rounds for hot companies at ever-higher valuations and exit markets look accommodating. Broadly, the direction is still upward.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Jan. 4, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

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All told, Q3 venture investment reached $97 billion, up from $70 billion in Q3 2024, per 附近上门 data. Quarter-over-quarter听 funding was up slightly from $92 billion in Q2.听

In each of the past four quarters, global startup funding has been above $90 billion 鈥� quarterly amounts not seen since Q3 2022 鈥� 附近上门 data shows.听

Startup investment has also now posted a year-over-year increase for the past four quarters, driven by megarounds of $500 million or more, largely to AI-related companies.听

Table of Contents

• Capital concentration
• AI leads
• Late stage funding up YoY
• Early stage slightly up
• Seed increases
• Strong exit activity in Q3 2025
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Capital concentration

As funding has increased this year, so has capital concentration.听

Over the past four quarters, venture investment has concentrated into rounds of $500 million or more, an analysis of 附近上门 data shows, with more than 30% of funding each quarter going toward such megarounds.听

The three largest venture rounds in Q3 2025 were raised by foundation model companies ($13 billion), ($5.3 billion) and ($2 billion). Billion-dollar-plus funding deals also went to , , , , and .

All in all, a third of all venture investment in Q3 went to just 18 companies that raised funding rounds of $500 million or more each. That is well above historical proportions before Q4 2024. Megaround funding also gained steam as the quarter progressed, with 11 of the 18 companies raising funding in September.

AI leads

In another blockbuster quarter for AI funding, $45 billion 鈥� or around 46% of global venture funding 鈥斕齱ent to the sector, with 29% invested in a single company, Anthropic.听

Hardware was the second-largest sector, with large rounds raised by robotic, semiconductor, quantum and data infrastructure companies in the third quarter totaling $16.2 billion, per 附近上门 data.

The healthcare and biotech sector raised $15.8 billion in venture funding in Q3, making it the third-largest sector for the quarter.听

Financial services, the fourth-largest sector, raised $12 billion in total.听

Along with a greater concentration of capital in larger companies, the U.S. predominated, with $60 billion 鈥� or just under two-thirds of global venture capital 鈥� going to U.S.-based companies in Q3.听

Late-stage funding up YoY

Most of the third quarter鈥檚 year over year gains were in late-stage funding. Late-stage investment in Q3 totaled $58 billion, up more than 66% year over year, and slightly higher quarter over quarter, 附近上门 data shows.听

(The peak quarter for late-stage funding in 2025 was Q1, with the $40 billion round for significantly boosting the numbers.)听

Early stage slightly up

Early-stage funding totaled nearly $30 billion for more than 1,700 companies in Q3, 附近上门 data shows. That鈥檚 up just over 10% quarter over quarter and year over year.听

Larger Series A and B rounds were raised by companies working on AI data workloads, energy, quantum, robotics, biotech and AI applications.听

Seed increases

Seed funding reached $9 billion in Q3 across more than 3,500 companies. Seed funding was up slightly from $8.5 billion invested a year ago. (Seed funding totals also typically increase over time, as many seed rounds are added to the 附近上门 dataset after the close of a quarter.)

Strong exit activity in Q3 2025

For the second quarter in a row, IPO activity increased year over year. The largest venture-backed IPOs in Q3 by value were , , and .听

On a global basis, 16 venture-backed companies went public above $1 billion in Q3, collectively valued north of $90 billion at their IPO prices. That compares to 18 companies in Q2 with a collective $60 billion in value. Both quarters were up significantly from 2024.听

In Q3 2025, M&A dollar volume reached $27.5 billion in reported exit value for venture-backed companies, 附近上门 data shows. That鈥檚 down from $43.6 billion in Q2.听

Nine companies were acquired for more than $1 billion each in Q3, 附近上门 data shows. Four of the companies were in healthcare and biotech. The remainder were in sectors including cybersecurity, AI, financial services, product development and sports betting. Notable among these was OpenAI鈥檚 acquisition of and 鈥檚 acquisition of .听听

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Oct. 2, 2025.听

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.听

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Global startup funding reached $91 billion in Q2 2025, according to 附近上门 data 鈥� an 11% increase year over year but 20% drop quarter to quarter. While still far below the frothy peaks of 2021, H1 2025 marks the strongest half-year for venture investment globally since the first six months of 2022, signaling tentative recovery in the private markets.

The gains we saw weren鈥檛 evenly distributed, however. North America logged the largest surge, led by blockbuster AI deals. In Europe, Germany surpassed the U.K. as the top venture market for the first time in more than a decade, and in Latin America, Mexico topped Brazil for the first time since 2012.

We鈥檙e also seeing sustained momentum in startup M&A activity, with acquisitions of venture-backed companies crossing $100 billion in the first half of 2025 鈥� a 155% jump year over year 鈥� per 附近上门 data.

Let鈥檚 take a closer look, with eight charts from 附近上门 News鈥� Q2 venture reports that illustrate the major startup and VC trends midway through 2025.

M&A more than doubles as appetite grows for big deals

附近上门 tracked 918 announced global startup acquisitions in H1 2025, a 13% increase in deal count compared to the first half of 2024.

By dollar volume, the increase was substantial, with just over $100 billion worth of disclosed-price startup purchases in the first half of 2025 鈥� a staggering 155% increase YoY 鈥� as companies showed a willingness to write big checks for strategic buys, especially in the AI infrastructure and cybersecurity categories.

Among the blockbuster deals in the first half of the year were 鈥檚 planned $32 billion purchase 鈥斕�slated to be the largest startup acquisition on record 鈥� and 鈥檚 $6.5 billion purchase of 鈥檚 AI device startup .

Other top deals in H1 included 鈥� $2.85 billion acquisition by ; accounts payable platform 鈥檚 $2.5 billion sale to ; and electronic health record software provider 鈥檚 majority stake sale to at a reported $5.3 billion valuation.

North America claims indisputable lead, fueled by AI

North America continues to be the indisputable leader in startup funding, accounting for an astonishing 70% of global funding in H1.

Overall, investors poured $145 billion into seed through growth-stage rounds for U.S. and Canadian companies in the first six months of the year, per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 a 43% gain year over year, and the highest half-year total in three years.

The U.S. AI sector once again led the way, with nearly $90 billion of the region鈥檚 first-half total going to startups working on artificial intelligence.

鈥檚 $14.3 billion June investment in led as the largest funding deal in Q2. Other big deals included a $2.5 billion Series G for defense tech unicorn , a $2 billion financing for GenAI startup , and a $900 million Series C for AI coding company .

IPO optimism also lifted spirits, with debuts by fintech companies and seen as bellwethers for a potentially reawakening exit market.

Asia and China continue slump despite cyber and AI bright spots

Investment in Asia-based startups hit a multiyear low in H1 2025, offset slightly by a bump in Q2, 附近上门 data shows.

China posted the region鈥檚 largest funding decline last quarter, with just $5.1 billion in reported funding. The lackluster quarter comes amid an extended period of declining startup investment in the country, driven by factors including a paucity of IPO and M&A exits.

Overall, venture funding to Asia-based startups totaled $26.2 billion in H1 鈥� down about a third year over year.

Country-by-country performance was mixed: India held steady quarter to quarter, while Israel hit a two-year quarterly high.

Across Asia, late-stage rounds ticked up slightly in Q2 on a sequential basis, but were down more than 26% year over year. Early-stage, which has held steady for the past several quarters, remained flat in Q2.

Europe sees steady funding amid lead country shuffle

Funding to Europe startups plateaued quarter over quarter in Q2 and fell 24% from the peak second quarter in 2024, 附近上门 data shows.

Notably, Europe鈥檚 late-stage funding lagged and pulled the continent鈥檚 share of global venture funding from 19% in the first half of 2024 to just 13% in the first six months of this year.

Still, large deals in Q2 went to companies across a handful of sectors, led by a $1.25 billion round to Turkey-based mobile game developer , with other bigger rounds in industries as varied as defense, quantum computing, energy, robotics, aerospace, therapeutics, fintech and software services.

Germany showed relative strength, leapfrogging the U.K. last quarter as the region鈥檚 top venture market.

Another bright spot: Startup M&A in Europe also showed strength, totaling $7.2 billion across 172 exits in Q2.

Latin America rises on Mexico鈥檚 strength

Venture funding in Latin America rose 13% quarter over quarter and 16% year over year, led by a burst of investment in Mexico, which surpassed Brazil as the region鈥檚 top destination for VC dollars for the first time since 2012.

Mexico鈥檚 Q2 funding totals were led by digital bank 鈥檚 $170 million raise, and $127 million for , which operates an online pre-owned car marketplace.

Other notable deals in LatAm last quarter include:

• $120 million for , a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-based startup developing 鈥渟ustainable and low-cost鈥� technologies for the mining-metallurgical sector;
• $48 million for Chilean fintech ; and
• $45 million for Mexico e-commerce aggregator .

Cybersecurity, AI and fintech surge globally

Beyond geography, sector trends underscored where investor enthusiasm is returning.

Global venture funding to cybersecurity surged to $4.9 billion in Q2, pushing H1 to the highest half-year level in three years, according to 附近上门 data. Among the biggest deal recipients were: (AI-enabled data security platform, $540 million), (cloud security provider, $359 million) and (software supply chain security, $356 million).

Fintech posted modest gains, with H1 2025 global venture funding up 5.3% year over year to $22 billion, a potential signal that investor confidence is returning after 2023鈥檚 reset. A handful of high-profile IPOs in the first six months of the year 鈥� including and 鈥� may signal a reopening of exit paths and reignite VC interest in the sector. One investor we spoke with, of , said 鈥渢here鈥檚 a real sense of momentum returning, particularly in B2B infrastructure, AI-native fintech and climate-aligned financial services.鈥�

All in all, AI remains the consistent thread, appearing in nearly every top deal across sectors and regions.

Looking ahead: Momentum builds, but caution remains

With startup M&A holding strong and the IPO markets inching open, the venture rebound shows signs of holding steady. But with the majority of the funding growth tied up in a single sector 鈥� AI 鈥� and dominated by a handful of large deals, the recovery also feels somewhat fragile.

Consider that nearly a third of all venture capital investment in Q2 went to just 16 companies 鈥� many of them in the AI sector 鈥� that raised funding rounds of $500 million or more. Whether we鈥檒l see the spoils of the AI gold rush trickle down to the rest of the startup ecosystem remains to be seen.

Related 附近上门 queries:

Related reading:

• Q2 Global Venture Funding Climbs In A Blockbuster Quarter For AI And As Capital Concentrates In Larger Companies
• North America Venture Funding Surged In First Half Of Year As Q2 Held Strong
• Germany Leapfrogs UK To Lead European VC Investment In Q2 As Region鈥檚 Funding Settles
• China Leads Asia Startup Funding Slide In First Half Of 2025
• In Q2, Mexico Surpasses Brazil In Venture Dollars For First Time In Over A Decade
• Cybersecurity Funding Surged Higher In Q2
• Fintech Comeback? IPOs Reignite Investor Optimism, But VC Funding Still Trails 2021 Highs
• Startup M&A Crests Higher In First Half Of 2025

Illustration:

Overall, investors poured $9.4 billion into global cybersecurity- and privacy-focused startups in the first six months of the year, per 附近上门 . Funding shot up in the first quarter to hit $4.5 billion, then surged to $4.9 billion in the second quarter.

Q2 funding faves

For Q2, a handful of jumbo-sized financings played a core role in boosting the funding totals.

AI-enabled data security platform scored the largest round, pulling in $540 million in a June Series E at a $6 billion valuation. , and led the financing for the New York-based company.

Also in June, Tel Aviv-based cloud security provider that it raised $359 million in Series G funding at a valuation of more than $4.8 billion.The new financing brings total funding to date for the 10-year-old company to .

Overall, we counted at least 11 rounds of $100 million or more for security- and privacy-focused startups in Q2, listed below.

Exits

While investors poured large sums into cybersecurity last quarter, they didn鈥檛 pull nearly so much out.

Both disclosed-price startup M&A and IPO activity for the cybersecurity space were muted in Q2. Even if they weren鈥檛, it鈥檇 be hard to vie with the first quarter, which brought us potentially the largest venture-backed startup acquisition ever: 鈥檚 planned $32 billion purchase of .

On the IPO front, there were no public market debuts of venture-backed cybersecurity companies in Q2, per 附近上门 data.

As for M&A, we didn鈥檛 see large acquisitions with reported prices. However, there were a number of well-funded startups snapped up for undisclosed sums, including:

• , a cloud security provider, was acquired by . Previously, Denver-based Red Canary had raised around $130 million in venture funding, per .
• , a San Francisco-based income and employment verification platform, sold to background screening provider . Previously, TrueWork had in venture funding.
• , a developer of tools to protect against AI security threats, sold to . Previously, Seattle-based Protect AI in venture funding.

AI in the zone

As in so many other industries, AI is playing a lead role in cybersecurity funding. Many of the largest recent rounds in the space have gone to startups at the intersection of these two areas, including Cyera, which touts an 鈥淎I-powered classification engine that auto-learns over time鈥� to detect threats.

As AI-related companies continue to scoop up a big share of global funding, it鈥檚 not unlikely cybersecurity will follow suit. Meanwhile, with overall funding on the rise, and cybersecurity among the favored sectors of the moment, the overall picture is still looking bullish.

Now all we need are some IPOs.

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Q2 Global Venture Funding Climbs In A Blockbuster Quarter For AI And As Capital Concentrates In Larger Companies
• Cybersecurity Funding Ticks Up Despite Slow Deal Flow

Illustration:

Overall, investors poured $145 billion into seed through growth-stage rounds for U.S. and Canadian companies in the first six months of the year, per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 a 43% gain year over year, and the highest half-year total in three years.

Total investment in the second quarter, meanwhile, was down sequentially due to a drop in late-stage financing. However, we did see a rise in seed and early-stage funding, as charted below.

We also saw the pace of dealmaking slow a bit in Q2. Deal counts were down quarter over quarter at seed, early stage and late stage, as shown below.

Once again, enormous rounds for generative AI companies were the main reason investment totals held high. In Q2, that included 鈥檚 $14.3 billion June investment in , the second-largest round of the year after 鈥檚 record-breaking $40 billion March financing for .

In addition to vast sums going into startups, the second quarter was also a robust period for exits. This included high-valuation IPOs from and , as well as multiple acquisitions for $1 billion or more.

Below, we take a closer look at investment activity by stage and review some of the larger exits.

Table of contents

• Late stage and technology growth
• Early stage
• Seed
• AI
• Exits
• IPOs
• M&A
• An upbeat quarter and a strong half
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Late stage and technology growth

Late stage attracts the most money, so we鈥檒l start there.

For the second quarter, investors put $41.5 billion into later-stage and technology growth investments, which is the third-highest quarterly total in three years.

Round counts also held high, with an estimated 239 later-stage and tech growth deals in Q2. That equates to the second-highest tally of the past five quarters.

A handful of megadeals pushed the investment totals up, led by Meta鈥檚 Scale AI investment, a strategic and financial deal that includes founder joining the social media giant.

Other big deals included a $2.5 billion Series G for defense tech unicorn , a $2 billion financing for GenAI startup , and a $900 million Series C for AI coding company .

Also noteworthy: We did see a sequential dip after Q1. However, that was to be expected in the quarter following OpenAI鈥檚 unprecedented $40 billion financing.

Early stage

Early-stage investment also held up at historically high levels in Q2.

In total, investors put $14.3 billion into early-stage companies, roughly flat with the prior quarter. Round counts ticked up a bit, though, hitting the highest point in four quarters.

As usual, a few particularly large rounds contributed heavily to the Q2 early-stage funding totals. Standouts include a $200 million Series B for residential battery provider , a $186 million Series A for green steel producer , and a $177 million Series A for drug developer .

Seed

Across all stages, seed investment saw the biggest spike in Q2. That was entirely due to a single round 鈥� the $2 billion financing for , the AI startup led by former OpenAI CTO .

Including that round, seed investment for the quarter totaled $5.9 billion, the highest level in three years, as charted below.

While funding was up, seed-stage deal counts fell a bit in Q2, based on preliminary data. We expect that total to rise some over time, however, as it鈥檚 common for some seed-stage deals to be added to our dataset weeks or months after they close.

The median seed-stage financing was around $3 million last quarter, although we did see some deals that were much bigger. Besides Thinking Machines, larger ones this past quarter included a $100 million seed round for AI model tester , and a $77 million initial financing for aerospace and defense startup .

AI

Given the dominant role of AI startups in attracting venture funding, we鈥檝e also been breaking out the share of investment going to this area.

For Q2, North America鈥檚 AI-related startups pulled in $34.5 billion in total funding, showing continued heavy investor appetite for the space. While down from Q1, which had the massive OpenAI financing, it鈥檚 still an impressive sum and the third-highest quarterly total to date.

Exits

The second quarter was also a fairly happening period for startup exits, including both IPOs and M&A deals.

IPOs

On the IPO front, the highlights for Q2 were the debuts of two heavily funded fintech unicorns: stablecoin pioneer Circle and digital banking provider Chime.

Of the two, Circle made the biggest splash on public markets. The New York-based company priced IPO shares well above the projected range and saw its stock increase severalfold from there. Its recent market cap was over $50 billion.

Chime has also performed well. Shares are still trading above the IPO price, and the San Francisco company had a recent market cap of more than $11 billion.

Other venture-backed companies that made their debuts last quarter included , and .

M&A

Acquisition activity was also pretty lively in the just-ended quarter, with multiple big-ticket deals announced.

In the AI arena, one of the buzziest was OpenAI鈥檚 purchase of , the device startup co-founded by famed product designer , for a reported $6.5 billion. OpenAI also snapped up AI coding startup for a reported $3 billion.

Other large deals included 鈥檚 purchase of for a reported $2.5 billion, and 鈥檚 purchase of for up to $2.1 billion.

An upbeat quarter and a strong half

Overall, most of the metrics we looked at for this past quarter and the first half of the year point to an upbeat funding scene and a receptive environment for startup exits. It鈥檚 especially encouraging to see the IPO window opening up after a long dry spell. And with expected to make its debut in coming weeks, the parade of closely watched unicorn IPOs looks far from over.

So what could go wrong to dampen this rosy picture in coming months? Certainly there鈥檚 plenty of risk factors, including a broader market pullback. For now, however, it looks like a bullish period in startup-land, particularly for those with compelling AI use cases.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Provisional data reported is as of July 3, 2025.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration: