US Venture Funding Hits Record $515.8 Billion Through September
PitchBook and NVCA data cited by SiliconANGLE show AI taking 82.7% of the total, while third-quarter exits and IPOs slumped.
US venture investment reached a record $515.8 billion by September of this year, about 44% above the previous annual record, according to a SiliconANGLE report citing PitchBook and NVCA data.
AI accounted for a record 82.7% of total investment this year, though its share fell to 65.9% in the third quarter. OpenAI and Anthropic together raised more than $200 billion in the first half alone.
Third-quarter investment was $98.4 billion, down about 40% from the previous quarter, while deal count stood at 5,012. Databricks recorded the largest quarterly raise of $5 billion.
Exits and IPOs lag
53.1% of third-quarter exit value came from SpaceX's acquisition of Anysphere, the developer of the AI coding tool Cursor, in an all-stock deal valuing Anysphere at $60 billion. Excluding that deal, quarterly exit value was $53 billion, the lowest since late 2024.
18 venture-backed companies went public in the third quarter, 12 of them healthcare firms. As of the end of September, there were 992 unicorns valued at $1 billion or more, with a combined value of $5.7 trillion.
78% of the $108.5 billion raised by venture funds was concentrated in large funds of $5 billion or more.
Quick answers
How much did US venture investment reach by September?
It reached a record $515.8 billion, about 44% above the previous annual record, according to PitchBook and NVCA data cited by SiliconANGLE.
What share of investment went to AI?
AI accounted for a record 82.7% of total investment this year, but only 65.9% in the third quarter.
What was the largest quarterly raise?
Databricks recorded the largest quarterly raise at $5 billion.