AI Funding Surge: Big Tech and VCs Lead $118 Billion Investment in 2025

As Funding To AI Startups Increases And Concentrates, Which Investors Have Led?

As funding to AI companies has grown this year and concentrated into fewer companies, Crunchbase data shows that a mix of private equity and alternative investors, Big Tech companies and venture capital firms have led the way. AI-related companies have raised $118 billion as of Aug. 15, up from $108 billion for all of 2024. Funding to the sector has more than doubled in the same timeframe. Proportions are also up: 48% of global venture funding year to date has been invested in AI-related companies, up from a third in 2024. Capital concentrates A select few companies raised a greater proportion of funding in this sector. Of that $118 billion, eight companies have collectively raised $73 billion via billion-dollar rounds, representing 62% of funding to AI-related companies. That includes a $40 billion raise by OpenAI. Contrast that with 2024 when 13 AI-related companies raised $47 billion, representing 44% of AI funding that year. Across both 2024 and 2025, six of these companies raised billion-dollar rounds in both years. They include, in order of total funding since 2024, OpenAI, xAI, Scale AI, Anthropic, Anduril Industries and Safe Superintelligence. Meanwhile, billion-dollar round proportions in non-AI companies amounted to 4% of funding in 2025 and 5% in 2024. Leading the biggest commitments Investors include a varied mix. SoftBank has led -- by a wide margin -- with the $40 billion round it led in OpenAI at a $300 billion valuation. Greenoaks led the $2 billion funding to Safe Superintelligence, and Thrive Capital led both a $900 million funding round in Anysphere and $600 million in Isomorphic Labs. On the corporate side, Meta, SpaceX and Google have committed the most so far this year. Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI at a value of $29 billion, which included its founder Alexandr Wang joining Meta. SpaceX led the $5 billion funding in xAI. Google invested in AI Labs, $1 billion in Anthropic, and $300 million funding in AI21 labs. On the venture front, the largest rounds were led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which led a $3.5 billion subsequent round in Anthropic, Andreessen Horowitz led the $2 billion round in Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, Founders Fund led a $2.5 billion round in Anduril, Accel led a half-billion-dollar round in Perplexity, and Khosla Ventures led the Series C for ClickHouse, as well as co-led Abridge's Series E. Other investors that co-led big rounds in the space are Kleiner Perkins' investment in Applied Intuition, and Alumni Ventures' participation in Lambda's Series D, to name a few. With the large dollar commitment and the frenzied dealmaking in AI companies, dry powder in the U.S. venture industry could sink to below 2019 levels per data tracked by Jon Sakoda of Decibel Partners, as reported by The Information. As AI companies demonstrate stellar growth, investors will continue to compete to invest in large rounds at huge valuations. As fundraising has slowed in the past few years, venture firms might need to go back to their limited partners for funds. Methodology The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Aug. 15, 2025. AI includes all startups tagged with the industries in our artificial intelligence industry group. These include AI infrastructure, AI labs and AI applications that are native or when AI is central to its business operations. 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. Crunchbase 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 Crunchbase 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. Crunchbase 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. Crunchbase 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 "Series [Letter]" 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 "venture" round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Latest AI Funding And Acquisition Deals Spotlight Innovation, Growth, And Faster Time-To-Market

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter In a robust display of investor confidence in artificial intelligence technologies, the past week has seen significant capital inflows exceeding $130 million across diverse AI applications. From productivity tools to entertainment, to financial technologies and automation solutions, venture capital continues to fuel innovation in the rapidly evolving AI sector. Productivity & CRM: Streamlining the Enterprise Engine The perennial quest for efficiency is a powerful driver for AI adoption, and the recent investments in this space highlight its critical role in modern businesses. Sola Solutions New York City-based AI-powered productivity and CRM innovator, Sora Solutions has been a magnet for investor attention. The company wants to use AI agents to automate businesses' repetitive, manual back-office tasks, and initially secured $3.5 million through the prestigious Y Combinator Summer 2023 cohort, alongside Y Combinator themselves and one other undisclosed investor. Sola Solutions quickly demonstrated its potential and traction spurring a follow-on raise of $17.5 million from venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz. This follow-on investment from a top-tier firm like Andreessen Horowitz, known for its keen eye on disruptive technologies, is a strong endorsement for Sola Solutions. Topline Pro Another New York City AI startup, Topline Pro, secured a significant $27 million in Series B funding from a syndicate including BBG Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, and six other investors. The company provides long-tail field service pros with generative AI in marketing and sales. Instead of "do it yourself," Topline Pro offers "done for you," autonomously managing pros' websites, SEO, social media, ad spend, and reviews. The global home services market size is estimated to grow by $1.03 trillion from 2025-2029. As generative AI models become more sophisticated, their application in marketing, customer support, and sales is expected to expand exponentially. Source: Technavio AI-Native & Web Agents: Building the Next Digital Frontier The foundational AI layer, particularly AI-native solutions and AI web agents, is attracting substantial capital, signifying a belief in the emergence of truly intelligent digital ecosystems. Two San Francisco startups received investments in the past two weeks. Dealops With a $7 million investment spearheaded by 20SALES, Allison Pickens Ventures, and six other investors, Dealops is positioning itself in the AI-native space. This category denotes companies where AI is not just a feature but the core architecture of their product. This approach often leads to higher performance, greater adaptability, and unique capabilities not achievable through traditional software. Refold AI Raising $6.5 million from investors like Ahead VC, Better Capital, and four others, Refold AI is tapping into a critical emerging trend: AI web agents. These autonomous agents, capable of navigating the web, interacting with applications, and performing complex tasks, represent a significant leap in AI's utility. Specialized AI: Deepening Impact Across Industries Source: AI-Generated by Andre Bourque Beyond general productivity, AI is making profound impacts in specialized sectors, attracting targeted investments from industry-specific funds and strategic corporate partners. LawPro AI Funded by Scopus Ventures and The LegalTech Fund, Los Angeles-based LawPro AI is applying AI to the complex and data-rich legal industry. The company received an undisclosed Seed Round investment. From automating document review to powering predictive analytics for legal outcomes, AI is poised to drastically improve efficiency and access to justice. The involvement of a dedicated LegalTech fund underscores the growing specialization of venture capital in the AI domain. Permian Labs Securing $13.4 million from a diverse group including Arbitrum, Big Brain Holdings, and seven other investors, Boston-based Permian Labs represents AI's critical role in the evolving financial landscape. Their product, USD.AI issues loans to AI firms using GPU hardware as collateral, reducing approval times by over 90% compared to traditional lenders. The presence of blockchain-focused investors like Arbitrum hints at the convergence of AI with decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 technologies. Protege New York City-based Protege received a substantial $25 million Series A investment from Bloomberg Beta, CRV - Charles River Ventures, and four other investors. Protege is focused on delivering advanced AI-driven analytics. Since its $10 million seed round in 2024, Protege has partnered with leading foundational models and AI companies across healthcare and media and boasts an expansive catalog of AI training data. SoftWear Automation A significant $20 million Series B1 investment from CTW Venture Partners, Lear Corporation, and five others went into Georgia-based SoftWear Automation. The company's patented SEWBOT technology delivers a fully autonomous sewing solution, enabling sewn products to be made closer to the consumer, with radically reduced fashion waste, faster cycle times, and superior cost-efficiency. As an established company, Lear Corporation's participation as a strategic investor is particularly noteworthy. Dashverse A $13 million Series A investment led by Peak XV Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and one other investor, into San Francisco-based Dashverse demonstrates the creative applications of AI extending into the entertainment sector. The company that originated as an AI-powered digital comics platform has since expanded its offerings, and now includes Frameo.AI, a generative video studio, and DashReels, a microdrama app. Strategic Acquisitions: The Need for Speed Beyond investments, the M&A landscape in AI reveals a strategic consolidation of talent and technology. Established companies are increasingly recognizing the value of acquiring innovative AI startups to accelerate their product roadmaps, gain market share, or integrate specialized capabilities. In a noteworthy acquisition, Nimble Gravity has acquired Fog Solutions, an AI App Development company. Fog Solutions' capabilities span the full data value chain, from strategy and governance to architecture and AI product delivery, strengthening Nimble Gravity's ability to serve clients across industries, and creating the combined capabilities to deliver across Microsoft's Cloud and AI Platforms. Acquisitions like this are growing popular for companies looking to quickly gain access to specialized AI talent, proprietary algorithms, and established customer bases to shorten their time to market and gain a competitive edge. Feature image AI-generated by Andre Bourque Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs