AI Startups Took More Venture Capital Than All Other Sectors Combined in 2025, Report Finds

As debate continues over whether the artificial intelligence boom has already peaked, new data from 2025 suggests the opposite may be true. For the first time on record, artificial intelligence startups attracted more venture capital funding than every other sector combined, marking a historic shift in global investment priorities.

According to a new analysis from BestBrokers, global venture capital investment totalled $512.6 billion in 2025, with $270.2 billion flowing into AI startups alone. This means AI accounted for more than half of all venture funding worldwide, a threshold the sector had never previously crossed.

The findings are based on investment and fund data collected from Pitchbook, CB Insights and other sources, alongside financial disclosures from leading venture capital firms. The full report can be accessed here: https://www.bestbrokers.com/forex-brokers/the-state-of-ai-venture-capital-in-2025-ai-boom-slows-with-fewer-startups-but-bigger-bets/

North America Dominates Global AI Investment

The data shows a heavy regional concentration of AI investment. North American startups raised $214.5 billion in AI funding during 2025, representing just under 80% of the global total. European AI firms followed with $36.7 billion, while Asian startups attracted $15.3 billion. Companies based in Latin America and other regions raised a combined $3.9 billion, indicating a gradual expansion of AI investment beyond traditional technology hubs.

AI Funding Surpasses All Other Sectors

A comparison of AI and non-AI venture capital investment over recent years highlights the scale of the shift:

• 2020: AI $80.5bn | Non-AI $300.7bn

• 2021: AI $179.4bn | Non-AI $573.7bn

• 2022: AI $121.1bn | Non-AI $406.1bn

• 2023: AI $101.2bn | Non-AI $266.9bn

• 2024: AI $156.9bn | Non-AI $235.0bn

• 2025: AI $270.2bn | Non-AI $242.4bn

In 2025, AI startups accounted for 52.7% of all global venture capital investment, up from 40.0% in 2024 and just 27.5% in 2023.

Quarterly investment levels also remained consistently high throughout the year, ranging from $56.9 billion to $75.5 billion per quarter. In every quarter of 2025, AI absorbed roughly half or more of all venture capital deployed globally, while non-AI sectors raised between $56 billion and $66 billion per quarter.

Fewer Deals, Bigger Cheques

Despite the surge in funding value, overall VC deal volumes continued to decline from their 2022 highs. However, AI demonstrated structural resilience, accounting for 31.4% of all venture capital deals in 2025, up from 20.5% in 2021.

The funding landscape was increasingly shaped by mega-rounds. The year was led by SoftBank’s $40 billion investment in OpenAI, the largest private-company funding round in history. Other major deals included Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and Anthropic’s $13 billion funding round at a $183 billion valuation, underlining the growing concentration of capital among a small number of leading AI firms.

Exit Activity Shows Signs of Recovery

AI startup exit value reached $189.6 billion in 2025, accounting for 34.5% of all global venture capital exits, up from 21.8% in 2024. The increase suggests that liquidity is beginning to return to the AI sector, particularly for late-stage companies, even as exit markets remain subdued elsewhere.

Commenting on the findings, Alan Goldberg of BestBrokers.com said:

“2025 marked a clear turning point for artificial intelligence startups around the world. After several years in which AI attracted growing attention but competed with a broad range of other sectors for capital, last year was the first year in which artificial intelligence became the dominant destination for venture funding in absolute terms. This shift was not driven by a surge in deal volume, which continued to decline across the market, but by a sustained increase in average deal size as investors concentrated capital into a smaller group of companies with proven technology, infrastructure relevance, and credible paths to scale.

The rebound in AI exit activity further suggests that liquidity is beginning to return for late-stage leaders, even as exit markets remain challenging elsewhere. Going into 2026, the AI investment cycle is likely to enter a more mature phase: one characterised less by speculative breadth and more by capital-intensive competition among a handful of global players, where access to compute, data, and distribution will matter as much as model performance itself.”

Additional information on venture capital investments, major AI funding rounds and the full research methodology is available in the complete report.