The venture market rebounded hard in 2025 — but almost entirely into AI and megadeals. US startups raised $339.4 billion across 16,709 deals, the fourth-highest total on record, while AI/ML companies absorbed 64% of all capital and half of every venture dollar went to just 0.05% of deals. Here are the numbers that matter, with sources.
across 16,709 deals — 4th-highest ever
Rebounded to the 4th-highest ever — still under the 2021 peak.
Source: PitchBook-NVCA (Q4 2025)
Two of every three venture dollars went to AI.
Source: PitchBook
$297.6B total — the 4th-best year of the decade.
Source: PitchBook-NVCA
Series A jumped 37% YoY to a record $78.7M.
Source: Carta
across 16,709 deals — 4th-highest ever
deal count up 9.6% year over year
from just 37% of the deals
up 37% year over year (Carta)
a new all-time high (Carta)
4th-best year of the decade
17 unicorns went public
extreme capital concentration
After two down years, US venture funding rebounded to $339.4 billion in 2025 — a sharp recovery that still fell short of the 2021 peak of $358.2 billion. Deal count rose 9.6% year over year to 16,709, with most of the increase driven by AI investment.
Source: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor (Q4 2025)
| Year | Capital invested | Deal count |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $358.2B | 19,634 |
| 2022 | $236.2B | 18,290 |
| 2023 | $168.8B | 15,379 |
| 2024 | $213.2B | 15,250 |
| 2025 | $339.4B | 16,709 |
AI is no longer a category — it's the market. In 2025, AI/ML companies made up 37.3% of all venture deals but absorbed 64.3% of the capital. That concentration shows up at the top too: half of all venture dollars went to just 0.05% of deals, as investors piled into a handful of frontier-model and infrastructure megarounds.
For founders outside AI, this is the defining dynamic of the 2026 fundraising market: the headline 'venture is back' numbers mask a far tighter environment for everyone not building in AI.
If you're not in AI, ignore the record headline numbers — they're an AI mirage. The market you're actually raising in looks more like 2023 than 2021.
Early-stage valuations set records in 2025 even as round sizes stayed disciplined. The median Series A post-money valuation rocketed to $78.7 million — up 37% year over year — while the median seed post-money hit a new all-time high of $24 million. Despite the gains, round sizes and valuations remain roughly 30–50% below their 2021 peaks.
| Stage | Median pre-money | Median post-money |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed (SAFE cap) | $10M–$15M | — |
| Seed | $16M | $24M |
| Series A | $49.3M | $78.7M |
2025 produced $297.6 billion in exit value — the fourth-best year of the past decade and a real thaw after a frozen IPO window. Public listings generated $119.4 billion from 62 IPOs (17 unicorns went public), while acquisitions totaled $112.7 billion across 995 deals.
A notable shift: 38.4% of M&A activity was driven by VC-backed startups acquiring each other, not Big Tech. And venture secondaries reached roughly $95 billion, cementing themselves as a structural third liquidity channel alongside IPOs and M&A.
| Channel | Value | Count |
|---|---|---|
| IPOs | $119.4B | 62 |
| M&A / acquisitions | $112.7B | 995 |
| Secondaries | ~$95B | — |
| Total exit value | $297.6B | — |
US startups raised $339.4 billion across 16,709 deals in 2025, per the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor — the fourth-highest annual total on record. Deal count rose 9.6% year over year, though the figure still trails the 2021 peak of $358.2 billion.
AI/ML companies accounted for 37.3% of all venture deals but absorbed 64.3% of the capital invested in 2025 — meaning roughly two of every three venture dollars went to AI.
Per Carta, the median seed post-money valuation hit a record $24 million and the median Series A post-money valuation reached $78.7 million in 2025 — up 37% year over year. Pre-money medians were about $16M (seed) and $49.3M (Series A).
Venture-backed exits produced $297.6 billion in value in 2025 — $119.4B from 62 IPOs, $112.7B from 995 acquisitions, and roughly $95B more through secondaries.
Capital has rebounded to one of the highest levels ever, but it's heavily concentrated: AI took 64% of dollars and 0.05% of deals took half of all funding. For non-AI founders, valuations remain 30–50% below 2021 and the bar for raising is higher than the headline numbers suggest.
Compiled and maintained by Trace Cohen · @Trace_Cohen · t@nyvp.com. Free to cite with attribution (CC BY 4.0).