In Q2 of 2025, global venture capital experienced a major explosion. AI became the top money - magnet, and capital accelerated its concentration towards industry giants.
In the second quarter of 2025, the global venture capital market witnessed a significant quarter, especially in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which became the focus of global capital pursuit. According to Crunchbase data, global venture capital investment in Q2 2025 increased year - on - year, reaching $91 billion, up from $82 billion in Q2 2024. However, compared with $114 billion in Q1 2025, there was a quarter - on - quarter decline, but the Q1 figure was already the highest since the third quarter of 2022.
Looking at the overall trend, global venture capital investment has shown a year - on - year growth trend in the past three quarters, mainly due to large - scale financing in the AI field. Especially those laboratories focusing on AI research and data and infrastructure providers have attracted a large amount of capital. In Q2 2025, the capital concentration further increased, with nearly one - third of the funds flowing to 16 companies with a financing amount of $500 million or more. Among them, Scale AI alone received $14.3 billion in financing.
AI Field Becomes the King of Attracting Capital
The AI field is undoubtedly the protagonist of this quarter. Approximately 45% of global venture capital funds, totaling about $40 billion, flowed into the AI field. Among them, more than one - third of the funds were monopolized by Scale AI alone. In the past three quarters, the financing amount in the AI field has repeatedly reached new highs. Basic model companies raised $5.5 billion last quarter. For example, the AI research laboratories Thinking Machines Lab and Safe Superintelligence, which were founded only about a year ago, each raised $2 billion. Companies such as Anduril Industries, Grammarly, Anysphere, and Helsing also received $2.5 billion, $1 billion, $900 million, and $694 million in financing respectively.
Medical and Financial Fields Follow Closely
In addition to the AI field, healthcare and biotech companies also performed well in Q2 2025, raising $14.8 billion in venture capital and becoming the second - largest field of the quarter. The financial services field ranked third, raising $10.8 billion. This shows that although AI has attracted a large amount of capital, other fields still have strong appeal.
The United States Dominates Global Venture Capital
While the capital concentration is increasing, the United States occupies a dominant position in global venture capital. In Q2 2025, U.S. companies received $60 billion in venture capital, accounting for two - thirds of global venture capital. This shows that although investment in AI and other fields is increasing globally, the United States remains the main destination for global capital.
Strong Venture Capital in the First Half of 2025
The first half of 2025 was the strongest half since the first half of 2022, with a total of $205 billion raised, a 32% increase compared with the first half of 2024. Among them, more than one - third of the funds flowed to 11 companies with a financing amount of $1 billion or more. It is worth noting that the two largest venture capital investments this year went to Scale AI ($14.3 billion) and OpenAI ($40 billion) respectively. Both of these transactions occurred in the first half of 2025, showing the strong appeal of the AI field.
Active M&A Market in 2025
Q2 2025 was the quarter with the second - highest acquisition amount of startups since 2021, with a reported exit value of $50 billion. Although this figure is lower than the $71 billion in Q1 2025, the Q1 figure included Google's $32 - billion acquisition of Wiz, which was the largest private - company acquisition in history. In Q2 2025, OpenAI was the most active acquirer, acquiring four companies, including the $6 - billion acquisition of Jonathan Ive's Io and the $3 - billion acquisition of Windsurf. In this quarter, a total of 18 companies were acquired for more than $1 billion, half of which were acquired by listed companies, three by private - equity firms, and six by privately - venture - capital - backed companies, including Databricks' acquisition of the open - source SQL database Neon.
Late - Stage Financing Growth, Early - Stage Financing Flat
In Q2 2025, late - stage financing increased by more than 53% year - on - year, reaching $55 billion, but decreased by nearly one - third quarter - on - quarter. In contrast, early - stage financing remained flat in Q2 2025, reaching $26 billion, involving 1,600 companies, with the largest financing being approximately $220 million. In fields such as quantum, energy, autonomous driving, therapeutic technology, and satellite technology, as well as in the human - resources and chat - software service fields, there were large - scale Series A and Series B financings, with Series B financings being dominant. Compared with Q2 2024, the annual decline in early - stage financing was mainly due to multiple billion - dollar Series B financings of AI companies in Q2 2024.
Seed - Stage Financing Growth
In Q2 2025, seed - stage financing reached $10.3 billion. Among them, Thinking Machines' $2 - billion seed - stage financing accounted for 20% of the total, which was also the largest - scale financing at the seed stage on record. Without this round of financing from Thinking Machines, seed - stage financing would have remained flat compared with the previous quarter and decreased year - on - year. Usually, the total amount of seed - stage financing increases over time because many seed - stage financings are added to the Crunchbase dataset after the end of the quarter/year.
Recovery of the M&A Market
In the first half of 2025, the proportion of funds in the AI field continued to increase, and the capital concentration also increased. As more funds are invested in private companies, the good news is that the M&A market has grown for two consecutive quarters, comparable to the peak M&A amount in 2021.
Editor's Opinion
Judging from Crunchbase data, the performance of the global venture - capital market in the second quarter of 2025 is undoubtedly remarkable. The explosive growth of the AI field has not only attracted a large amount of capital but also promoted the rapid development of related technologies. However, the trend of capital concentration in large companies has also attracted people's attention. On the one hand, this helps large companies further consolidate their market positions and accelerate technological innovation and application implementation; on the other hand, it may also pose certain challenges to small startups, as they may face more intense competition and higher financing thresholds.
It is worth noting that the development of AI technology is no longer limited to the virtual world. With the rise of large physical AI models, AI is gradually penetrating into the physical world. For example, some companies are developing AI networks based on multi - modal data fusion, integrating data from sensors such as cameras and radars, as well as text information, to achieve real - time perception and understanding of the physical world. The application prospects of this technology are very broad, and major changes may occur in fields such as autonomous driving, intelligent transportation, industrial automation, and smart homes.
In addition, the United States' dominant position in global venture capital remains stable, indicating that the United States' innovation ability and market appeal in the technology field are still strong. However, with the continuous development of the global technology market, other countries and regions are also striving to catch up, and there may be more opportunities for competition and cooperation in the future.
Finally, the active M&A market also brings new opportunities and challenges to the technology industry. Through mergers and acquisitions, companies can quickly integrate resources, expand business areas, and enhance market competitiveness. However, at the same time, attention also needs to be paid to the integration risks and market - monopoly issues that may arise during the M&A process.
In general, the performance of the global venture - capital market in the second quarter of 2025 provides an important window for us to observe the development trends of the technology industry. The rise of the AI field, the increase in capital concentration, and the active M&A market all indicate that the technology industry will enter a more intense stage of competition and innovation in the future. The emergence of large physical AI models has opened up a new world for the application of AI technology, which is worthy of our continuous attention.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Shanzi", author: Rayking629, published by 36Kr with authorization.