The venture capital world hit a fever pitch in 2025, as money poured into artificial intelligence at levels no one saw coming just a few years back. Picture boardrooms in Silicon Valley and beyond buzzing with talks of the next big model, while checkbooks flew open for startups promising to redefine everything from chatbots to robots. By October, global AI startups had pulled in $192.7 billion, smashing the prior year’s total by mid-August alone. North America scooped up about 70% of that haul, turning the region into the undisputed hub, though Europe chipped in with 41% growth year over year.
A handful of blockbuster deals captured the headlines and the cash. OpenAI grabbed a staggering $40 billion in March from a SoftBank-led group, pushing its value to $300 billion, and whispers by October pegged it at $500 billion. Anthropic followed with $13 billion in its Series F, while Elon Musk’s xAI landed $10 billion in the third quarter, hitting a $200 billion mark. Scale AI scored $14.3 billion from Meta in June, and France’s Mistral AI raised $2 billion in its Series C, proving talent pops up worldwide. These weren’t small bets. They averaged 28% bigger than last year’s rounds, with AI grabbing 48% to 53% of all global VC in recent quarters. SoftBank Vision Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed led the charge, alongside sovereign wealth funds that dropped $46 billion in the first nine months.
Investors didn’t stop at chatty models. Cash flowed into physical AI for robotics, data centers for the compute crunch, and tools tailored for industries like healthcare and finance. One analyst from PitchBook noted that 91% of AI firms raising $100 million or more pull in over $10 million annually in recurring cash. Yet the market split hard. AI deals soared while non-AI ventures hit a five-year low in volume, as funds chased fewer, fatter targets. North America dominated, but spots like Europe showed grit, with Mistral’s win signaling broader global plays. ​
Not everyone toasted the frenzy. Skeptics at Bridgewater and JPMorgan flagged sky-high valuations untethered from quick profits, plus loops where tech giants fund each other in a closed circle. A Bloomberg voice captured it: this feels like 1999 dot-com all over, but with actual products this time. The question is sustainability. Proponents countered that unlike past bubbles, these startups showed traction, from enterprise deals to user growth. Still, the divide grew as 2025 closed.
Projections point to $112 billion in AI VC for 2026, building on 2025’s momentum with a 19.8% compound growth rate through 2030. Expect more IPOs from matured players, tech giants doubling down, and fresh waves into robotics and multimodal systems. North America stays central, but global ripples from Europe and Asia could widen the field. The rush tests if this cash plants roots or evaporates, shaping ventures for years ahead.
